Beef protests demonstrate anger over factory cuts

Farmers will take to the streets tomorrow to vent their frustration over factory beef price cuts and specifications changes which are eroding confidence in the sector, especially among winter finishers.

The move by the factories to target prime in-spec steers and heifers with new price and weight cuts, following their recent meeting with Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, was a step too far and shows scant disregard for both the minister and farmer suppliers.

Beef farmers will protest at the Department of Agriculture in Dublin because of their anger and frustration with the price cuts. Winter finishers simply cannot endure any more losses.

The time has come for Minister Coveney to stand up for farmers and reject the factories’ tactics. He must insist that stability and confidence are restored to the beef sector.

The minister must also tackle the lack of competition in the beef sector and take action to close the large price gap between Irish beef prices and those in our main export market in Great Britain.

IFA has worked hard to secure a new ferry route for live cattle to the UK. What we need now is for the minister to remove the artificial blockages preventing the expansion of the live trade, including the labelling difficulties. This is a market access issue preventing the proper operation of the EU single market.

Farmers are concerned that factories are being allowed use the Department of Agriculture AIMS database to monitor livestock numbers on individual farmers. We want a guarantee from the minister that the AIMS system is absolutely confidential and factories do not have access to the herd profile of individual farmers.

The collapse in bull beef prices since last December has inflicted severe losses on winter finishers and badly damaged confidence and morale right across the beef sector.

Some bull beef finishers are taking a financial hit of €200 to €300 per head and struggling to get cattle killed before more severe price and spec cuts are applied.

There is no doubt that income losses at finishing level will also impact on store and weanling producers down the line.

The factories and their supermarket clients cannot change the goalposts with new specifications in the middle of the production season. At this point, farmers calving cows or buying cattle this spring are at a loss as to the direction they should take.

The latest round of factory cuts and limits on in-spec cattle was avoidable as our main markets in the UK and across Europe show signs of stability.

Despite the fact that the weekly kill at the factories is only 31,500, farmers cannot get their cattle killed and many are being pushed back week after week into over age and overweight price cuts.

This raises wider implications for the beef sector and the targets set down in Food Harvest 2020, if the problems in the beef market are not addressed and prices stabilised quickly.

The suckler herd is under severe pressure and the price cuts and specification limits will ultimately hit weanling and store prices, and compound this situation.

Farmers believe a strong live export trade for Friesian calves to Spain and Holland, weanlings to Continental EU markets and stores to North Africa are essential to keep a competitive balance in the trade.