Allen says farmers will disappear unless the public forks out moreOne of the country's foremost advocates for local produce has waded into the farmers' price battle. Good food guru Darina Allen says supermarkets are sourcing food anywhere as long as it's cheaper and that the consumer has no birthright to cheap food at any cost. The founder of Ballymaloe Cookery School feels this is such a big issue it's time to take a stand.
"Farmers are certainly not being paid enough. The pressure has been on for years to supply cheap food at any cost. There are huge health and social issues to be considered and for farmers and horticulturalists it's disastrous. Our food should be our medicine, and yet some people think we have a god-given right to cheap food and want to pay half nothing for the food we need."
Darina Allen dismisses the notion there is any snobbery in her stance but says that rather we must see past our noses when it comes to nourishment and fair play for farmers. "Yes, these are tough times and there is a recession, but one of the last things to cut down on is food. It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive. If you don't put good food on the table you will end up giving the money to the doctor or chemist instead. We must pay farmers a fair price so that they can earn an honest living. How can you sit down and enjoy a meal if you paid half nothing for it, it's immoral, it's wrong. People are being very short-sighted, they should vote with their feet. Irish farmers can no longer compete and there is no loyalty to them here in Ireland."
But she also believes that Irish farmers have to pull up their socks. "The milk price at the moment is a disgrace. We've got to loosen up regulation and run down to the farmers locally like we did years ago for our milk. What would be wrong with the local milk round again? We were reared on raw milk. Many people live near a dairy farm. What would be wrong with farmers selling directly to their neighbours? We all must examine our conscience. We talk about jobs and all the time we complain about the price of food but what's in our fridge. Are we going to practise what we preach? We can buy fantastic Irish produce this time of year, carrots and turnips and Irish stuff. Every single one of us can make a difference and we need to wake up to that. If we want good food, the farmer has to be able to earn a decent and honest living. All they want is a fair and honest price, when will the penny drop? No farmers, no food."
But alas, Darina does admit that some of our problems are home-grown. "A few little basic cookery skills can help people to live cheaply, and while in the boom of the Celtic Tiger years people developed great careers, now that the credit cards have stopped working they are left without any life skills, they can't cook, garden or keep a few hens. They are helpless. If they knew how to sow a few seeds they could live so much more cheaply, but they are at the mercy of the retail outlets."
