18

signicant and ever-increasing difculties with getting

paid, with time-lines of three to ve months reported.
The following comments were typical;
Dealing with retailers is getting more and more difcult.
Credit terms are being stretched out, yet the suppliers
are more demanding with many wanting payment on
delivery. It was a very simple system setting out, but now
we are chasing money.
The shops are looking for a wider margin all the time
and have got much slower to pay, anything up to 3 to 5
months.
In addition to payment difculties, those with lengthy
experience of dealing with retail noted a number of
other trends which have created difculties for small-
scale food producers. Trends such as the on-going shift
towards central distribution, the increased preference
for dealing with large growers, processors, etc., the shift
towards own-brand goods have all squeezed out or are
creating an ever-diminishing share of shelf-space for the
kind of producers who took part in this study. Again, the
following stories are typical;
If I was starting out now, I wouldnt have a chance of
getting into supermarkets. But Ive been selling into them
for years and customers know and look for my products.
Theres a growing trend in the likes of X to push their
own brand stuff, with a lot of management decisions not
being made locally. We thought we might be pushed
out over time and have looked for a Plan B.
I tried selling meat into X and it looked like it would
happen but in the end they said that meat processor
had a problem with it being on the shelf alongside their
stuff. So, they wouldnt take it off me in the end....you
just cant trust the supermarkets.
Some of those who have succeeding in getting their
products on supermarket shelves and who might
themselves have once seen this was a very positive step
for their business now appear quite negative and jaded
by the experience;
I dont enjoy the shop sales now, its all business these
days and nothing more...theres much less goodwill than
there used to be. Theres only one feedback you get
and its if theres something wrong. Theres no exibility
and its very rigid, all it is to me now is just a cheque at
the end of month.
People think its all about getting into supermarkets but
success brings its own problems. We are listed with X now
but we havent pursued it and we may not do so. We
have heard too much about how they are to deal with.
We only deal with good places now with whom we
have established relationships and where we know well
get paid. Weve learned not be too keen to jump at
every chance when someone says theyll supply you.
These particular participants are at least to some
degree now shifting back to direct engagement with
consumers via their own retail operation or farmers
markets. Such a shift has been found to deliver both
nancial benets cash is king but also to return a
sense of agency to the producer.
3.1.5.4 Farm Shop/Farm Gate Sales
Two of the participants in this research have their own
retail operations, both in towns proximate to the farm.
Old Town Hill Bakehouse opened their own bakery shop
in Kilkenny towards the end of 2012, in a sense, going
back to direct selling after many years of only pursuing
sales via other retailers and Castlemine Farm have a
farm shop in Roscommon Town. In both cases, the shops
have been highly successful;

The shop has worked well, its returning some control to
ourselves. It also really helps with cash ow and you can
minimise waste. Joy Moore, Old Town Hill Bakehouse
The shop in Roscommon is denitely the easiest and the
most successful of the things we do.
Brendan Allen, Castlemine Farm
The remaining four producers who pursue this option
generally have more informal sales at the farm gate,
where customers call in or arrange to collect produce.
In addition to the income derived from this with
minimal nancial inputs from the producer, having
people visit helps promote the farm and its produce
and gives consumers a deeper insight into the farm
operation.
A number of participants have considered opening their
own on-farm shop but have ultimately concluded that it
would not be nancially viable;
We have thought about an artisan shop or a farm
shop but compared to likes of UK, theres a very small
market. John Tait, Aberdeen Angus beef producer