Tipp farm leader says retailers have ‘jumped on the bandwagon’

Photo © Tipp FM

A Tipperary farm leader says retailers have ‘jumped on the bandwagon‘.

IFA President, and Toomevara’s Tim Cullinan was reacting to news that supermarkets and grocery stores are being asked what they intend to do to lower food prices for the consumer as they appear before the Government.

Representatives of the major chains, smaller retailers and the grocery industry are attending talks at the Department of Enterprise with Junior Enterprise Minister Neale Richmond questiong why food inflation is still rising, despite prices falling back in other areas.

The Government is hoping to avoid bringing in caps, but can introduce them if something doesn’t happen.

However IFA President Tim Cullinan says farmers don’t want the prices to fall:

“I have been looking at CSO figures over the last few days and over the last 10 years the price of food is falling in the region of 5.4%, like there is no sector in the community that has not seen an increase over the last 10 to 20 year period. Farmers have been dealing with massive inflation in the cost production in the last year in particular the retailers go then to jump on the bandwagon.”