Major beef decisions made far away from round table
Major planning went into industry development, when preparing the Food Harvest 2020 targets to increase beef output value by 20%. This was boosted to 40% on the recommendation of the industry-led Beef Activation Group, monitored and reviewed by a high-level implementation committee chaired by Mr Coveney. But it’s time to modify the strategy again, and farmers were particularly eager to accept the Minister’s invitation. They feel hard done-by, getting a poor price relative to the booming UK market, where so much of their beef is sold, and facing very high production costs.
A burning issue today will be allegations of anti-competitive practices by cattle buyers — such as refusing to buy cattle born in the Republic of Ireland, but fattened and slaughtered in the UK. Farm-ers and co-op marts have brought these allegations to the European Commission.
