Ex-FSA chief calls for dairy, beef consistency
The price of stores went up €150 a head on the same day at the Carnaross Livestock Mart in Co Meath, said Dr Patrick Wall of UCD, guest speaker at IFA golden jubilee celebrations in Cork last weekend.
"Whether we like it or not, we are playing on a global pitch", farmers were told by the former Food Safety Authority chief executive.
He referred to the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and the move to a more competitive orientated policy, with a planned further expansion of the EU, the emergence of China as a dominant player and inevitably, increased liberalisation of trade by the WTO.
"We are now facing times as challenging, if not more so, that in the past 50 years".
"Brazil, for instance, has 190 million cattle and it is only a matter of time before they get their act together and get their standards up to speed."
Dr Wall said a level playing field for rules and regulations is needed, however, in the global scene if there is to be a fair contest, "because the cost of compliances is compromising us here."
Dr Wall said disputes between farmers and processors, who are competing on the global stage, only distract from the efforts that they should be making together outside of Ireland.
"There will have to be some meeting of minds, some partnership approach, mutual respect and trust going forward together," he said.
He said farmers have to take stock as business people. They are sitting on valuable assets (land). He did not believe land was going to get cheaper in Ireland, because "The Bull McCabe is in all of us."
He said farmers have to consider when they are hosing down the yard, they are an €8 an hour person, but when they are sitting at their desk trying to maximise a return on their assets, they are on €250 an hour.
Dr Wall said some farmers are currently being encouraged to invest their decoupled payment into buying property abroad.
"I think that would be a wrong thing to do for farmers who are serious about staying in farming in Ireland. It would send the wrong signal to young farmers. That is a recipe for us to fail."
He advised the Cork IFA members that good animal health status is the foundation for the livestock sector.
"We have to work to produce consistent quality in our dairy and beef sector. At the moment we have not got that consistency.
"There is too much variation. Improved genetics will create the potential and improved nutrition will deliver it," he said.
"We need to have evidence to support our claims that we are the little green island, the bread basket of Europe.
"We could fall into the trap of believing our own propaganda. We have to have some substance behind it. We have a lot of systems to support our claims, but we need to stitch them together," he said.
Dr Wall said the IFA in Cork has some of the country's top farmers and business people, who are in the vanguard of change and will lead the way.
The calibre of young people in Macra na Feirme also gave him hope for the future.
He recalled that Diarmaid O'Sullivan, the Cork hurling full back, was asked, after the All Ireland, if he had been worried, and he replied that the players had the skill, were match fit and had the belief.
"That's important," concluded Dr Wall. "If you don't believe you can succeed, you are setting yourself up to fail."
