IFA call on chicken grower rates

Limerick: Chicken growers must receive a reasonable return, the IFA claimed yesterday as farmers protested for a sixth day at Castlemahon Foods near Newcastlewest, Co Limerick.

Grower members of the West Limerick Co-op Poultry Producers Society Ltd (WLCPP) are in dispute with the firm over what they claim are uneconomic margins.

IFA Poultry Committee chairman Alan Graham said chicken farmers are seeking a rolling average margin of 40 cent per bird over feed, chick and hatching to cover rising variable costs, labour and capital repayments.