A package of measures to help the beef industry was announced by Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney yesterday after he hosted a forum on the issue at Dublin Castle.
He called the meeting of beef processors, farm organisations and groups such as Teagasc and Bord Bia following the deterioration in relations between factories and farmers in recent months over cattle prices and changing specifications.
Mr Coveney said he would introduce a free “beef pricewatch” online tool to make price information more accessible to farmers. He would also ensure that the forum would reconvene every three months under his chairmanship to exchange information on market developments.
Farmers had complained of changing specifications which left them with young bulls that the factories no longer wanted. Mr Coveney said the quarterly meeting would discuss forecasts on supply, demand, prices and retail changes to avoid a similar issue arising again.
Promotion of Irish beef
Other measures include a new €500,000 fund to step up Bord Bia's promotion of Irish beef in the UK and in some EU markets. Mr Coveney also said he would be engaging with the North's Minister for Agriculture Michelle O'Neill on cross-Border issues relevant to the beef sector.
IFA president Eddie Downey welcomed the fact that Mr Coveney had promised quarterly meetings, but said farmers would judge the process on the basis of their concerns being fully addressed and on the price they got for their cattle.
ICMSA president John Comer said the most obvious solution to the issue of a fair cattle price was to set up a beef market monitoring agency.
He said the present system where farmers invested up to three years in producing cattle only to be told at the last minute that all the factory specifications had changed and their work was down the drain was “utterly unfair” and would wreck beef production.
Meat Industry Ireland, an Ibec group representing beef processors, welcomed the outcome of the meeting, and said the quarterly meetings would help to improve dialogue.
The group said the recession in the EU had severely impacted beef consumption "which has fallen 500,000 tonnes in the last five years".
Market prices
"This, in conjunction with a significant overhang of pork in the EU market due to the Russian ban on EU exports, is the key factor in the recent weakening of market prices."
The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association had called for the appointment of a regulator for the beef industry, and its president Patrick Kent said Mr Coveney did not fully rule it out.
