Brazilian beef protest campaign begins
Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association president Malcolm Thompson crossed the border to Derry to launch a protest campaign.
Mr Thompson said he had done so to send out a clear message to supermarkets in the Republic.
The protest, organised jointly by the ICSA and the Northern Ireland group Farmers for Action, was also attended by representatives from other farm bodies, north and south. Mr Thompson said it is appalling that Brazilian beef is being sold by supermarkets in the North.
“I have crossed the border to draw a line in the sand and am saying clearly - thus far and no further,” he said.
Mr Thompson said the ICSA will mount a sustained campaign over the next few months against the importation of Brazilian beef.
“We need to send a clear message to our WTO negotiators that Irish farmers will not tolerate the decimation of our industry any longer and beef needs to be treated as a nationally sensitive product,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Irish Farmers Association has announced that its campaign against the importation of large quantities of South American beef is set to continue.
John Dillon, president, said the IFA is determined to tackle head-on the damage being inflicted on the Irish beef sector from uncontrolled South American imports.
He said beef producers in this country are angry after seeing prices collapse in the last six weeks.
“Meat factories have cut cattle prices by €150 per head since June, leaving more than 50,000 beef farmers in a loss-making situation,” he said.
