Major retailers warned falling livestock prices hurting farmers
As farmers protested outside a Tesco store, IFA president Eddie Downey warned the major retailers, including SuperValu, Dunnes, Aldi and Lidl, and the meat factories, that the cuts are severely damaging the country’s €2bn beef sector and must be reversed.
He said livestock farmers are extremely angry and frustrated over the way their incomes have been decimated this year by price and specification cuts imposed by retailers and factories.
“Farmers feel betrayed by the unacceptable behaviour and lack of corporate responsibility on the part of the powerful retailers and meat factories to their farmer suppliers,” said Mr Downey.
“With beef prices in our main markets in the UK and across the EU stable and recovering, the current attack on prices led by the factories cannot be justified.”
Mr Downey said it is time Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, Bord Bia, and the meat processors fought back against these specification cuts, which are extremely damaging to the Irish beef sector and the country’s top quality grass-based beef production systems.
IFA Livestock Committee chairman Henry Burns said that the way Mr Coveney had stood back on the beef crisis was totally unacceptable
He said farmers expect the minister to take a much more hands-on approach in tackling the issues that are negatively impacting on their incomes.
