IRISH FARMERS HELD a protest outside discount supermarket giant Aldi today – and brought a Grim Reaper as well as a coffin full of vegetables with them.

The protest took place outside Aldi’s Naas store and is the latest in a series of Irish Farmers Association (IFA) protests.

Price concerns

IFA President Eddie Downey said that “the current behaviour of all the major retailers towards vegetable growers will ensure the extinction of this specialised production sector and prevent Irish consumers from getting premium quality vegetables, as they will be substituted by imports”.

He said that growers “can no longer take the price reductions being sought by Aldi”. He maintained that the company had imposed on average “a 10% cut in the farm gate price of main line vegetables” year on year.

At the protest, IFA Vegetable Chairman Matt Foley said:

if the major retail multiples in this country are serious about having a sustainable fresh produce sector and ensuring a reliable supply of safe, home-grown food, retailers must show greater responsibility and leadership for their actions.

Aldi response

A statement from Aldi said:

A cornerstone of Aldi’s ability to offer great value groceries to its customers is developing long-term, sustainable and co-operative relationships with its Irish suppliers, producers and farmers.

Many of our Irish producers have been with us for over ten years.

All of our products are tendered to make sure we are continuing to pay a fair price for the agreed quality, which is then passed on to our customers. The tendering process that Aldi employs is fair and transparent, and is not used as a mechanism to simply drive down price or switch suppliers.

The company added that it now has 111 Irish stores with plans to open many more.

“In order to ensure a consistent supply of fresh Irish fruit and vegetables throughout our growing store network it is often necessary to engage additional suppliers to meet our growing demand for product,” it concluded.

Read: Irish farmers show their beef with factories and retailers in McDonald’s protest>

Read: Farmers protest outside Burger King over Irish beef prices>

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