We see over the last few months that food prices across the board have gone up on average 4.6%, and the first group that are getting attacked by some D4 journalists, are the farmers.

A few throwaway headlines by some Agri papers, to sell a few extras copies of the newspaper, on milk and beef prices over the last 12 months or so.

It would get any person in Revenue excited.

But the question that should be on everyone’s lips is, has food over the last 20 years been too cheap?

When you take inflation into account, and the high cost of production especially over the last five years, the Irish consumer should be thanking farmers that the cost hasn’t been passed on to them sooner.

Has food been taken for granted? We see food on the shelve, and we put it into our trolleys, and think no more of it.

The EU are looking to cut CAP payments, with the funds being put instead to the military capability of the EU.

There is an attempt to force through the Mercosur deal, with the EU Commission President Ursela Von Der Leyen smiling for photos, and driving through the deal by any means through the EU parliament.

It was very disheartening to see Irish MPs fail to stand up for Ireland and oppose this.

We in Ireland are famed all over the world for high standards of farming, with grass-fed beef, our sheep, and dairy.

The consumer demands the highest standards, so why aren’t they willing to pay for it? Particularly, if you look of all the inspections and audits that Irish farmers go through yearly, and consider the tens of thousands that are spent on machinery, on livestock, farmyards, sheds, farm roadways, and fields, to ensure the we have the most efficient farming system in the world.

Food in the shops, in my opinion, has been underpriced for far too long and only now is the reality of the cost of production hitting home.

When milk prices were very low and beef prices weren’t covering the cost of production, the consumer were still getting a premium product.

It’s only in the last 10 months that the farmer is getting the true price for their beef, sheep, and milk, and all of a sudden we are being blamed for a cost increase.

The question has to ask what does the Irish consumer want?

If they want the premium product they demand, they will have to pay for it - simple.

We Irish farmers are so proud of the products we produce.

Generations of work have gone in to getting Ireland to be recognised as the number one in food standards in the world.

The agriculture industry employs 14,000 people in West Cork.

We have to make a living off the land.

We work 365 days a year, so why should we not have a level of pricing that reflects this?

Would any other sector in the Irish economy work, and take the higher level of cost, and not pass it on?

It’s not like we can go on strike and let shelves go empty, so the next time you see a farmer, you can thank him or her for the work they do.