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Grain growers to demonstrate outside Guinness again

The Irish Grain Growers Group (IGGG) will return to the Guinness Storehouse next Monday (December 4) to stage another demonstration.

Kicking off at 12:00pm, it will be the second time that the group will travel to St. James’s Gate in the past three weeks. It’s also the third time the IGGG has staged a demonstration in the past six weeks; the first of its protests was held outside the Boortmalt plant in Athy, Co. Kildare.

The IGGG has stated that the recent ‘Future of the Tillage Sector in Ireland’ report has “vindicated” the group’s campaign seeking a minimum of €200/t for malting barley.

Stating why it’s traveling to the Guinness Storehouse once more, the group said: “We call on Diageo to live up to its priorities under its sustainability and responsibility strategy.

“Diageo’s actions towards its Irish farmer suppliers are at variance with its stated priority of building thriving communities by supporting farmers and other suppliers, as they help us build a sustainable value chain.”

The group added: “Diageo is the largest purchaser of malting barley in Ireland – purchasing 130,000t of barley each year.

This is the majority of the malting barley grown in Ireland. Given its bargaining power, it clearly has a huge influence on the price received by growers. The forward selling pricing structure for malting barley was put in place at Diageo’s insistence.

“What impact will it have when malting barley has to be imported – purely from a lack of will from Boortmalt and Diageo to engage with the issues?

We are only looking for 0.1-0.15% of the average retail price of Guinness, which is €4.30.

“The rest of the supply chain is getting 70%, excluding the tax element. A minimum of €200/t is needed for brewing-malting barley to be grown sustainably. A simplified pricing structure needs to be put in place.”

The group continued to say that it’s developing a framework for a tillage sectoral plan.

The group welcomed the ‘fair-trade system’ suggested in the above mentioned report; particularly the development of a logo to distinguish between ‘Produce of Ireland’ and ‘Produced in Ireland’.

 

Source: Agriland