A chara, – I’m writing in response to the current media coverage of price gouging and the cost of groceries. The narrative in some recent pieces can be very damaging to smaller retail outlets and primary producers and, in my opinion, is ignoring the broader picture of what is happening across Europe at the moment.
I run a small 33 acre farm in Meath as well as a vegetable shop and restaurant where we sell direct to consumers, employing approximately 20 people full time. We grow a wide range of our own produce as well as sourcing local products from other farmers in the local area. We also source off-season exotic fruit and vegetables from Holland.
Since February, we have been heavily impacted by rising costs in Europe. In one 24 hour period, the cost of tomatoes went from €12 for 5kg to €25. This, I was told, was due to the energy crisis, and today prices remain volatile.
Last week the price of strawberries jumped from €23 to €30 in two days, whereas bell peppers have gone from €25 to €13 then back to €16 in a matter of weeks.
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Prices remain higher than they have ever been before and small businesses like ours must price accordingly.
Although my prices are changing weekly, I still must aim to keep similar margins across my products.
In recent weeks I have had numerous claims put to me from customers that some small shops are “ripping people off” and “price gouging”, a narrative in which I feel the media is perpetuating.
Unfortunately as a small business I have no control over the price of items that must be sourced from the continent. Rises seem to be dictated by the increasing price of fuel to heat glasshouses over the winter months and now the record-breaking temperatures in Spain are causing scarcity of out of season vegetables such as carrots and broccoli, thus driving up the price.
On the domestic side of things, Irish vegetable farmers are struggling to get food into the ground. We had our wettest March on record, a wet April, and so far May has not brought any improvements.
Growers are behind in planting crops which will mean gaps in the market, leading to loss of income, all while contending with the rising costs of fertilisers, fuel, weed and pest controls.
The Government claims inflation has slowed to 5 per cent but what it fails to acknowledge is that much of the produce currently available was planted while inflation was as high as 10 per cent and those costs still need to be recouped by growers.
When discussing the possibility of supermarket cost caps, I urge the Government to consider who will bear the brunt of this policy – the supermarkets or the farmers.
More importantly in Ireland, we must begin to educate society on the realities of food production, a difficult job in which you are at the whim of the weather where a wet week could set you back an entire month, and an overly dry summer could increase your production costs dramatically. – Yours, etc,
ANDREW RUITER,
Ashbourne,
Co Meath.