Food strategy must serve modern consumers
First mooted in 1998 after a major report commissioned by Enterprise Ireland and carried out by US international consultants, McKinsey, it proposed 25% takeout of capacity with substantial compensation for those exiting the industry.
One of the difficulties at the time was that big players such as Larry Goodman could have been one of the biggest gainers under the compensation package while having his position strengthened as a processor under the controversial plan.
It is easy to say with hindsight the plan was doomed from the start, but nearly four years without one plant closure that seems a reasonable conclusion.
This failure raises several issues for the sector and indeed for the state.
Food in the broadest sense is one of out strongest suits as a modern economy.
In a world craving for new product every last effort needs to be made to get the most out of what we have in order to maximise returns to producers, processors and ultimately the economy. So far in any food category the only international brand we have produced in all of our years as food processors is Kerrygold.
It has been around so long at this stage that it has become a kind of sad reminder of how paltry our success has been in terms of producing global grabbing brands that set us apart as a country with major food skills.
Arguments about our green image and its potential to underwrite anything we produce is no longer the issue here.
The debate has moved on. In the short term it is clear that the future of the beef and dairy sectors will be underpinned at the end of the day by well researched product lines geared to meeting the needs of the modern consumer.
Note the use of the word consumer, not housewife.
The modern housewife no longer exists in the way previously understood.
Houses were advertised recently in Birmingham or Manchester and kitchens were an optional extra.
That surely tells its own story about the direction we need to be heading with our food strategy.
But do we have one? Dare we ask the Minister for Agriculture if we do.
It is significant too that when most modern economies have moved away from a full ministry of agriculture to a Food ministry that Ireland still retains its attachment to the office.
That is indicative of a mind set which says farmers not food policy elect politicians and there is no way that Fianna Fáil is going to abandon the farmers in such a public way, although the shift in EU policy and the cost of production in Ireland has ensured the continuous erosion of the numbers in full time farming.
Meanwhile the focus elsewhere is not so much on the farmer but on producing product that answers the consumers needs which at the end of the day will allow the greatest number of farmers continue to get a living out of farming.
But the strategy here is muddled.
Rationalisation of both the dairy and beef sectors is long over due.
Now the latest is that the beef plan has been abandoned and those who were planning on getting out have been advised that the plan is once again on hold.
And it seems that the Irish Meat Association has been abandoned by Goodman, Kepak and Donegal Meats who have decided their future is better served by the main employer body, IBEC, the Irish Business and Employers Confederation.
Key figures in the sector have been interviewed and given the CA’s brief cartels and their role in the beef industry have been to the fore in the interviews done under oath with people on both sides of the industry.
Farmers have argued, and will continue to argue that the sector needs more not less competition and it looks as if the farmers are wining at the minute, but at what cost in the long term?
