Food prices will soar as farmers are hit with spiralling costs, the Irish Farmers' Association has warned.
Farmers held protests outside Dunnes Stores branches in recent days before meeting with its chief Anne Heffernan for crisis talks yesterday.
With fuel, gas and petrol costs soaring across the economy, farmers are demanding higher prices, with many saying they are being pushed out of business.
Gas prices are pushing up the cost of heating animal sheds, while soaring petrol and diesel costs are pushing up the cost of everything from hauling chicken waste to disposing of dead birds.
Fertiliser, which is made from natural gas, has almost doubled last year and energy prices have also doubled for some farmers.
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Last night an IFA spokesman said: "I think if the costs keep going the way they are, I think it's impossible to avoid the conclusion that food prices will have to rise." After days of protests outside Dunnes Stores branches in Bishopstown in Cork and Monaghan on Monday the company sat down for a face-to-face meeting with farmers.
IFA president Tim Cullinane said farmers are dealing with massive increases in the price of feed, fertiliser and energy.
"We have to get a price increase in the produce from retailers to keep our farmers in business. A number of farmers are considering closing down and going out of business. They are losing substantial amounts of money and that is why we are down here in Cork.
"Other retailers have engaged with us with a view to looking at the extraordinary circumstances we find ourselves in. A little bit of give will keep everyone in business.
"I have had phone calls from farmers myself and they say they just can't sustain the costs they are incurring at the moment. We have to get out and fight our case. If Irish consumers want to be able to pick up an Irish chicken or Irish rashers there has to be a price increase on the supply chain."
Tesco, SuperValu, Centra and Lidl management have already met IFA concerns around production costs. A meeting with Aldi is due soon.
These retailers have committed to engaging directly with their suppliers of Irish chicken, eggs, pork and bacon, and with fruit and vegetable growers.
Farmers say the price they are paid for their vegetables means many are simply leaving the industry. Supermarkets are also buying in cheaper produce from the Continent which is "not sustainable financially or environmentally", says the IFA.
Official CSO figures released on Monday show fertiliser prices rose almost 90% in December compared with a year earlier, milk prices were up 16.3% last year and energy prices were up 15.2% in 2021.
IFA poultry chairman Nigel Sweetnam said other retailers have met with them and acknowledged the issue of rising costs but Dunnes needed to act. "We cannot survive at current prices. Farmers are looking for [an increase of] 15c a chicken and 2c an egg," Mr Sweetnam said.
Farmers are currently paid €1.08 per dozen eggs which farmers say should rise by 24c to €1.32 to cover the increased cost of chicken feed, which has gone up 40%.
Poultry farmers are paid just 48.5c per chicken which sell for between €4 and €5 in supermarkets.
Monaghan farmer Andrew Boylan said his costs have rocketed this year. "The price of gas, for heating and cooling the poultry sheds, has gone up 40%. Electricity has gone up 100%. We were on a two-year contract with Pinergy but we left them when their costs went up but electricity has gone up across the board.
"Because the price of petrol and diesel has gone up, the haulage cost of removing bird litter to mushroom farms in Kildare and Wexford has gone up 30%.
"Even the cost of removing dead birds has gone up with petrol costs - taking the birds to a rendering plant is now up 35%. The price of wood shavings for bedding has gone up 15% to 20%. Disinfectant has gone up 15% to 16%. Overall, our costs are up about 40% to 60%. The cost of labour and insurance are also up."
Mr Boylan, the former chairman of the IFA Poultry Committee, said the cost of food will have to go up unless some new programme can be worked out for farmers.
He said: "The Government thinks if the price of fuel and energy goes down that everything will go back to normal. It won't. There are major reforms coming to the EU's Common Agricultural Policy from next year, which will see supports going from farmers to environmental programmes.
"Basically, because of EU subsidies, food has been produced at below cost for the last 30 years but that is about to change. The current cost of food is about 10% of take home pay for the average person. That's down from about 60%, about six decades ago.
"If EU subsidies are removed, there is no way the current situation will continue and there is a steep learning curve for the consumer and the multiples [supermarkets] to understand that." IFA Pigs chairman Roy Gallie said pig farmers also need retailers and the Government to "step up".
He added: "Pig farmers are in a vice-like grip with feed price increases on one side and falling prices on the other."
Farmers have warned that the supermarkets must pay them up to 20% more for their produce if the Irish market is going to survive.
CSO statistician Anthony Dawson said: "The most significant change is in the price of fertilisers where the price index is up 86.9% in the month of December 2021 when compared with the monthly price in December 2020.
"The almost doubling price of fertiliser is causing a 'cost-price' squeeze for farmers." Mr Cullinan said the key issue involves restoring the viability of producers.
He added: "The blockade was about engagement and a phone call came through to our office from Anne Heffernan the managing director of Dunnes Stores. We have agreed to a meeting with Anne and her team at Great George's Street in Dublin at their head office at five o'clock this evening.
'On the back of that meeting as I always said the blockade would be lifted. We will move on from here. We will go into negotiations. This is about getting fairness along the food supply chain and getting a margin passed down the line to farmers."
Images: IFA & Getty
