Tom Hayes TD, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with Special Responsibility for Horticulture, officially opened the 9th International Conference of Producer Organisations for fruit and vegetables.
Minister Hayes stated that “Co-operation allows producers to collectively purchase inputs and to work together, thereby achieving economies of scale. More importantly, by creating a concentration of supply it enables many of the small and medium scale producers to gain access to premium markets which they could not avail of without some form of a collective marketing structure”.
In welcoming the delegates from Producer Organisations across Europe to Dublin, the Minister highlighted the very competitive environment in which fruit and vegetable producers operated.
The Minister referred to the dominance of the multiple sector in Ireland, and across the EU, and stated that “an effective Producer Organisation offers producers the best opportunity to address issues relating to their scale of production and their limited bargaining”. He went on to say that “Producer Organisations could also help the beef sector in Ireland to rebalance the negotiating power along the supply chain and to provide greater supply assurance to both producers and processors, conscious of the importance of existing market organisations”.
The Minister also highlighted the need for certainty in the operation of the EU Producer Organisation Scheme, and he welcomed the fact that Commissioner Hogan had already made commitments in relation to the simplification of the fruit and vegetables regime.
Finally, the Minister praised the benefit of these Conferences and hoped that “the information provided will give POs the opportunity to see how they can strengthen and develop”.
