In an unusual development, a group of 25 Irish vegetable growers has issued a statement defending its relationship with Tesco against what it calls damaging “rumours and misleading accusations”.
The statement, which the signatories say has been made independently, is part of a continuing war of words over the closure of the Republic’s only large-scale vegetable co-operative, Dublin-Meath Growers (DMG), to which the 25 were previously suppliers and for which Tesco was publicly blamed at a recent meeting of an Irish parliamentary committee.
At that meeting, a founder member of DMG, Colm Warren, accused Tesco of being “absolutely ruthless” in withdrawing its business from the co-op just two months after it had opened a new €5 million (£4.6m) facility. It had done so, he claimed, because of DMG’s support for growers, and its withdrawal of business had cost the co-op 80 jobs, plus more than €600,000 in meeting outstanding obligations to individual suppliers.
Warren was scathingly critical of the system used by Tesco to replace the co-op supplies, claiming it “beggared belief”. Produce was being sent to a distributor in north county Dublin, he said, then taken to Northern Ireland for processing, before being returned to north county Dublin for distribution to Tesco stores.
But in their statement, the 25 growers, mostly from north county Dublin and Meath, say they have “not been disadvantaged in any way” by Tesco’s decision to move its contract from DMG to Total Produce, and they describe as “grossly exaggerated and misleading” claims that large quantities of produce are being sent to Northern Ireland for processing.
The growers’ statement goes on to warn that “rumours and untruths about the relationship between Tesco and Irish suppliers” are damaging their business with the multi-national company and causing them serious problems. “Our arrangements with Tesco are open and transparent,” it adds, “and have worked to the advantage of farmers. The retailer has given firm commitments on the volume of produce it will buy and the price, and these have been honoured and, in some cases, exceeded.”
In a further rejection of Warren’s criticisms, the growers say that “the vast majority” of produce is consolidated and packed at a facility in north county Dublin and from there delivered to the Tesco store network across the Republic.
One of the signatories of the statement, Cathal Lenehan, a county Meath cabbage grower, said he was getting the same price for his produce now as he did when he supplied DMG. “I never made a fortune before and I’m not making one now,” he admitted, and added: “Tesco is paying a fair price and I’m happy.”
