Fake Farms and Farm News

by Kenneth Keavey

It’s been a wonderful week on the farm; the soil is dry and that makes planning and getting things done so much easier. Planning around the weather makes growing 20 crops on a commercial scale tricky.

So, to get the last few weeks of dry weather has been a Godsend. Now mind you it has been cold, the wind has been biting, but I am informed that this may be changing towards the end of next week.

Either way we have been making the very most of the conditions. We have planted and sown loads of crops and although growth has been slow, the plants are at least in the ground. We are a little behind, but I feel more confident now that I did two weeks ago for the season ahead.

Cameron our potato grower has informed us we will be coming to the end of his Irish potatoes in the next couple of weeks, he grows all our Irish potatoes, and we have had a great relationship with him for a number of years now.

Richard from Clashganny organic farm has also sent us his last pallet of Irish organic apples, we have buying Irish apples off Richard for maybe nearly 10 years now.

Joe Kelly has cucumbers planted for us, and we are getting salad, and spinach and chard from him most weeks, we will take most of what he has for us throughout the season.

Beechlawn Organic Farm have been supplying us organic produce since we started nearly 20 years ago, and it is amazing to have a resource such as them down the road, they have been true leaders in the Irish organic production over the last 25 years.

Millhouse Farm produce the very best rocket, salad and parsley, and we have been getting produce from them too for a number of years. This is a just a sample of some of our real Irish farmer partners. There will always be discussion around quality and a bit of back and forth, it is fresh produce after all, but we will always make it work.

These are real farms with real names as is our farm. Of course, we import and buy in produce and deal with other amazing suppliers and growers and co-ops in Europe too.

But what we do not do, is create marketing brands that have names that give the impression that they are actual farms. Names that give customers the impression that the produce comes from a real family farm that does not exist, for example the name “Farrells” from one well known discount supermarket. This is NOT a real farm!

The facts are clear, the number of veg growers in Ireland has contracted from over 600 to just over 60 in the last 20 years, the pricing power of supermarkets has had a heavy hand in this.  Primary produce is always the first in the firing line when it comes to discounts and has often and is still used today as a loss leader to lure consumers into large supermarket stores.

You cannot argue with making food more affordable and cheaper, but I would argue there are few industries that are forced to accept a price less than the cost of production, it is not right.

This too is a story of the powerful and the powerless. When any large retail organisation has massive market share it can put undue pressure on small suppliers who in truth have little option but to comply. Thankfully the scales are moving at least a little in the right direction, and it seems the crisis in the Irish veg growing sector maybe the last straw that is at last offering a little protection to Irish producers.

As always, your support is helping move us towards a fairer food system.

Thank you.

Kenneth

PS We may need to get a bigger marquee it seems, the tickets for our sustainability festival on the 12th of Sept are selling out fast, and as the first press releases are going out now we would very much like to make sure you our customers get first refusal, so please have a think if this is something you would like to attend and get your tickets soon. 

Fake Farms, what do you think…

by Kenneth Keavey

What do “Egan’s” and “Farrell’s” have in common?

They are all brand names used on supermarket packed own label fruit and veg. They give you the impression that they are family farms, BUT THEY ARE NOT.  They are marketing mechanisms, to make us feel warm and happy that we are supporting these assumed lovely family farms.

We are working hard on our Real farm to get the autumn harvest out and the conditions are favourable; this is the same in the remaining Irish vegetable farms up and down the country the likes of Beechlawn Organic farm, or McCormacks Family farm, or Philip Dreaper’s farm in Offaly where we get our Irish carrots, or Richard Galvin in Clashganny organic farm who supplies our organic Irish apples, and many, many more.

These family names used in some supermarkets give the impression there is a real farm with a family name behind the carrots, or tomatoes on their shelf. I recently went to check this out in a large Retailer.

In their fruit and veg section I was convinced that “Farrell’s” which was labelled on much of their Irish produce was a family farm and this family were producing a wealth of produce. At least at first glance that was my impression. I’m in the veg growing business I am a grower and understand a little of how these things work and I was taken in by the misleading advertising.

As I looked a little closer it seemed that my original assumption was not at all correct. “Farrell’s” is not a real farm; it is a marketing tool created by the supermarket to give the consumer that warm homely glow of things being done right.

Does it matter?

Well, I think it does, firstly, this is misleading, you are led to believe the produce is coming from “Farrell’s”, and it is not.  

The second interesting point that is worth considering is that this brand allows supermarkets or more frequently large pack houses and distribution centres, to take in produce from multiple farms and blend it into packs, so the carrots may be coming from multiple suppliers and you or I will never know.  This practice is now frequently called “blending”.

This is very helpful for large retailers as it gives it them the balance of power when it comes to price negotiation, and the ultimate flexibility to choose whose carrots or apples to put into their bag.

When the grower is hidden, he has less power to negotiate a fair price and as with all own branded products on supermarket shelves they are cheaper. It is this pricing structure that has done the damage to growers all over Ireland over the last twenty years.

As always with your support our real Farm continues to grow and our support for other REAL growers can be fair and transparent.

Thank you.

Kenneth

PS Thank you to everybody who donated to our Gaza appeal during the week, I am waiting on final confirmation but the total donated is looking like it was €2380, so thank you so much to everybody, we will be topping this up with the 50% of €1190 making the total donation we will make to the UNICEF Gaza appeal €3570. We will confirm this early next week and be making the donation straight away.