Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 1 October 2025
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food
Challenges Facing the Tillage Industry: Discussion
2:00 am
Mr. Andy Doyle:
On contracts, they apply within the industry, but mainly, as Mr. McEvoy said, for premium products, in particular barley. I do not think they apply as much to porridge oats. There are contracts with some of the co-ops, but they are somewhat looser. It is difficult to have contracts. Once we move to a contract system, it quickly appears as if we are pushing something on somebody. History has told us that we do not succeed commercially by pushing something on somebody. We have to try to get the market to want it, as Mr. Carter said. If the market needs to use Irish products for whatever good reasons – bad reasons should not apply – that is where we need to look going forward. It should be reflected in the labelling.
No comments