Machiavellian market forces

PRODUCING for the marketplace rather than keeping livestock just to maximise the cheque in the post - that’s the prospect held out to farmers as decoupling approaches.

The frustrations of harvesting the premia led many farmers to say they would rather “live or die” according to supply and demand. Their chance has come, but farmers have also learned that the market for farm products in Ireland is not a transparent scenario where supply and demand alone determine the price.

Instead, judging from recent interaction between farmers and processors, it is a scene of Machiavellian scheming where one side constantly strives to outdo the other.