Better returns, not another report

FARMERS are convinced that the next tribunal will be one of the beef sector. Not again, not another huge expensive trawl through what is recognised as one of the most problematic and controversial areas of the food market.

In July 2000, Enterprise Ireland identified price transparency and trust among farmers and processors as a key objective.

Well, the Seamus Sheehy report into the sector, which concluded there was no cartel, may have satisfied processors, but it failed to lift the cloud of suspicion hanging over it as far as farmers were concerned.