Walsh’s beef sector peace mission
December 9 has been designated for this heady get together.
Not for the first time the minister will attempt to get both sides to sit down and take stock of the global difficulties facing the industry.
Presumably he is hoping to get both sides to pull back from the confrontations that have characterised the sector for far too long.
One of the points Mr Walsh is hoping to discuss in the so-called summit is the question of rationalisation. The issue has to date cost the Irish taxpayer about 750,000 for a report by US consultants McKinsey.
Commissioned by Bórd Bia, it suggested capacity should be cut by about 25%.
About 11 plants shout be take out of commission and compensation paid to those who scale back or quit the sector.
Recent market intelligence suggested the processors were close to a done deal on taking scale out of the industry but so far nothing has emerged.
It is believed the minister is calling all sides together in the hope at least of getting resolution on this question.
The argument has been greater efficiency means great savings but some of the saner voices in beef suggest taking competition out of processing will leave producers even more vulnerable.
It is a given that consumers of beef are fussy about eating imported beef.
Given that we produce 10-times our requirements, processors face a huge export burden where the price paid for what is produced is no better than that on the home front.
Several reasons exist as to why this is so. Not least, consumers across Europe consumers prefer their own beef.
It is virtually impossible therefore to push Irish beef at a premium.
Judging from some of the off-the-wall comments coming from the IFA during the most recent stand-off with the factories, that message isn't getting through.
If Mr Walsh really wanted to liven up the debate at this great summit he might suggest that beef production is one of the most inefficient and costly forms of protein production.
He might say growing beans is a far more efficient way of producing protein it is estimated one acre of land produces six times more beans than it does beef.
It is unlikely such considerations will make it on to the floor of this summit but it could be regarded as a success if both sides agree to move to a production policy that gears itself to satisfy market demands a basic rule which still seems an alien concept to those involved in the sector in this country.
