More than 80 per cent of pollsters on freshinfo this past week believe that the action of Irish growers last week storming a Tesco executive meeting in a local hotel is the way to get a point across. “I believe this is a fantastic show of intent from the Irish growers that all others should take notice of,” said one voter.
But there were some detractors also commenting on the Irish producers’ actions last week. One said: “I bet there are more happy customers as a result of the cheaper prices then there are angry farmers, it is life, accept it.”
Another respondent fears the action will only cause problems for indigenous producers in Ireland in the future. He said: “Tesco will then source from outside Ireland then the growers will have to move the product for less elsewhere. Not an easy call, but at the end of the day the public are pushing for lower prices.”
Although one pollster pointed out the situation is simply the result of depreciation in sterling against the euro, another points out that generating media interest is what the fresh produce industry needs to consider. “The president of the Irish farmer's union along with cameramen from the national TV stations were present.” Said the anonymous respondent. “Wake up fresh produce [industry] - it's not the actual incident, it’s the coverage it receives on the TV that wakes up a national awareness which in turn makes Tesco question what it is actually doing.”
