McCormack says farmers have to be paid a fair price for produce

A Tipperary farm leader says the era of cheap food is over as we know it.

Pat McCormack says much of the concerns being expressed around the surge in food prices were because consumers and corporate retailers had become used to simply passing their own financial preferences backwards onto the farmer primary-producer.

Speaking on Tipp Today the west Tipp based ICMSA president said farmers simply have to be paid a fair price for their produce.

“You know you won’t have food without the farmer – and that’s stating the very, very obvious. We see how vulnerable the food supply chain is. We saw it with Covid.

“We were with the MEPs last week in Brussels. It is certainly back on the agenda at a European Union level as being a huge concern – the availability of food and the security of having a continuous and a sustainable supply.

“But also from an economic sustainability point of view that the primary producer has to be able to make a margin and make a living from it in order for us to deliver social sustainability and that’s what rural Ireland is all about.”