Farmers dumping produce

IslandFella

Hi. I'm not a farmer and not at all involved in the industry. I'm wondering what do farmers do with unsold produce or produce not meeting sale standards.

With supermarket grocery price wars and the additional cost of locally sourced produce in farmer's markets, there must be surplus out there that cannot be sold. I'm talking about Irish produce across the board; meat, veg, eggs, etc... all perfectly good food. Is the surplus exported or dumped?

reilig

I'd say that the surplus is normally sold off at cheaper prices - meat would be sold or given free for dog food. Veg brought home and composted etc.

Most farmers won't have this problem as they do not sell direct to the public - cattle are sold to meat factories and butchers so its up to them what they do with the leftovers. Grain crops and fruit and veg are most often sold on to a middle man too.

So, in short, farmers don't really have a surplus!!

Corsendonk

You been watching that TV show the Great British Food Waste?

Well I have more knowledge on the commercial vegetable and fruit side. A certain percentage gets rotivated back into the ground as its not worth harvesting(veg gone over the top, too small, started to rot). The lower grade that doesn't meet supermarket standards gets sold usually to the Dublin Fruit and Veg Market were it supplies most of the restaurants and small veg shops in the country. Is a commodity so if there is a glut the price just drops. If people believe that most local fruit and veg shops or stalls in farmers markets just carry local well sadly there wrong. Some grade offs go to cattle feed or get spread on land to be ploughed back in. There is some research into using digesters to generate electricity. A percentage of composting happens but you have to be wary what you compost and how you do it otherwise it can spread disease or weeds.

We export a percentage mainly to Norm Iron and GB (mushrooms, strawberries etc). The fruit and vegetable industry here is very small with only 2-4 major areas of production and is increasely dominated by large factory scale growers.

Tora Bora

We are such poor farmers here in the west of Ireland, we sell everything which is any way saleable, and put the half rotton gone off stuff on the table:mad:

IslandFella

Hey Corsen, I saw the Great British Food Waste show and it really gets you thinking. I would cringe if there was such food wastage in Ireland as the UK that was reported on that programme.

Like most people I buy imports from supermarkets what is homegrown. Its a price thing, but I do try to get the odd bit from country markets every now and then.
There always seems to be an over abundance of veg at these markets, like the growers bring their entire lot. From what I see, at least 3/4 goes back with the grower at the end of the day.

My thought is that if they lowered their prices, people would gladly and regularly snap up the produce, but I think prices over 40% of the supermarket costs make people think twice.

<going a bit off kilter here> Yes, the homegrown does cost more to produce. But doesn't it make sense for market traders to sell all of their lot at slightly lower prices rather than only sell some at higher prices? Everyone would be better off (Apologies if this point has been discussed in a previous thread).

BTW. Very informative from all. Thanks

Corsendonk

You find that some of the farmers that go to the farmers markets do the farmers market circuits. I imagine some produce get sold the next day at another market. Some of the stalls at the markets are competitive but there is a certain percentage that overprices themselves out of the market. At the end of the day its a commercial business so if you don't sell your goods or have high waste levels you don't make money and if you don't make money you don't stay in business.

Growing costs in Ireland are higher too, labour, shortage of good land compared to the hugh growing areas in the UK and finally the big one climate. The grower base here is very small so the same guy that sells to the supermarkets sells to the dublin markets who in turn supply the guy at the farmers market when he hasnt enough to fill out his stall. You might find this link interesting, its the average price for case/single items sold in the Dublin market today. You have to scroll down the page a little

http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/agri-foodindustry/tradeexports/dublinwholesalemarketprices/

Notice a Class 1 Irish 227g punnet of strawberries is 1.70euro while your local supermarket sells it at what 2.49-2.99euro?

You might want to open a thread in the cooking forum to get more opinions because alot of the food waste in Ireland isnt from growers or producers but from retailers and more importantly consumers. The people who throw out the netted swede because its gone by its best before or slightly shrivelled. Best before is only a guide but the amount of people that throw out good food just because its gone by its best before is criminal. Or supermarkets selling Buy One Get One Free offers and you end up throwing out half of the second product.

Birdnuts

One word: Pigs;)

blue5000

I'm only a farmer but the amount of waste in our fridge at the end of the wk is frightening. AFAIK out of date meat in supermarkets is collected by suppliers and goes for petfood (hopefully), however there was a frightening documentary on tv a few yrs back where condemned chicken was being re-hashed.

I think to find out more you'll have to ask a supermarket, most of us farmers on here are primary producers, we sell to processors and buy our food in supermarkets the same as everybody else.

reilig

blue5000 wrote: »

I think to find out more you'll have to ask a supermarket, most of us farmers on here are primary producers, we sell to processors and buy our food in supermarkets the same as everybody else.

My job brings me into supermarkets with clients at times - one client has a job as a composter in quite a large Supervalu supermarket - all waste veg and bread is put into a special machine which composts it fast. The compost is collected by the local waste collector - so i don't know what happens to it after that.

whelan1

my cousin has pigs and he gets biscuits that are out of date some well over a year out of date for them:rolleyes:

Corsendonk

reilig wrote: »

My job brings me into supermarkets with clients at times - one client has a job as a composter in quite a large Supervalu supermarket - all waste veg and bread is put into a special machine which composts it fast. The compost is collected by the local waste collector - so i don't know what happens to it after that.

Its most likely a compactor and not a composter. Normal waste from supermarkets goes into bins to be picked up by waste contractors. Where you have a freezer or fridge breakdown they must arrange to get a special food waste license for deep landfill and picked up by the waste contractor. Chicken fat from the deli counters gets picked up by specialist oil waste companies and for meat there is a special bin as that goes for rendering. All the pig meat from the dioxins fiasco went back to a rendering plant.

reilig

Corsendonk wrote: »

Its most likely a compactor and not a composter. Normal waste from supermarkets goes into bins to be picked up by waste contractors. Where you have a freezer or fridge breakdown they must arrange to get a special food waste license for deep landfill and picked up by the waste contractor. Chicken fat from the deli counters gets picked up by specialist oil waste companies and for meat there is a special bin as that goes for rendering. All the pig meat from the dioxins fiasco went back to a rendering plant.

No, its definitely a composter. The food waste is put into it whole and it comes out like a brown dust. It takes roughly 3 weeks for the whole process.

Corsendonk

reilig wrote: »

No, its definitely a composter. The food waste is put into it whole and it comes out like a brown dust. It takes roughly 3 weeks for the whole process.

Interesting, they obviously have if for fruit and veg waste and bread.