WATCH: Lidl to meet with egg and poultry producers
After enduring a cold night in an empty carpark, the IFA hailed their 24-hour protest at Lidl as a “great success”.
As the protest entered its final hour, a clutch of egg and poultry producers sat around in a circle, sporting woollen hats and multiple layers, supping tea and mulling over the newspapers broadcasting their concerns. Beside them, a generator trundles noisily along, feeding a heater to soften the sting of the January air.
Whether consumers will heed their calls is an unmeasurable, but they will have a chance to push home the point with Lidl next week.
“The main thing to come out of this is that Lidl have agreed to meet with us next Tuesday to discuss the situation and how we proceed from here,” says Brendan Soden, an egg producer from Lavey, who is also the vice chairman of the IFA poultry committee.
“It's basically up to them now to come back to us with something. Basically all we want is a 15c increase in the price of chicken and a 2c increase in the price of an egg, just to stay in business – that's all we're interested in at the minute.”
The farmers began to clear away a table displaying the chicken priced at €3.49 that sparked this latest protest. A line is slashed through the previous price of €4.29, which equates to a saving of 18% for consumers. Hunched alongside it is a bag of chicken flavoured dog nuts available at the same price, much to the dismay of the farmers.
"At €3.49 that chicken is being sold under the cost of production.
"This dog food is the same price - it's ridiculous that this chicken can feed a family, but to feed a dog it's the same price. It is unbelievable in this day and age that retailers think that with the costs farmers have we can continue to stay in business and supply product at this price"
Before he goes the Celt notes that Lidl say that they are absorbing the cost of the promotion, not the farmer.
“Like all retailers Lidl operates weekly promotional specials under our 'Super Savers' range. Lidl bears the costs of all promotional items and the supplier receives the contracted price.”
Brendan disputes this, saying ultimately it hits the producers' income.
“In the tendering, that will be factored into the processors or packers agreements with the retailer. But in turn the packer or processor passes that back to us eventually, in their costings to us. So it does affect everyone down the chain, because it has to be covered somewhere.”
The generator feeding the outdoor heater is turned off, and its busy hum is replaced by silence.