'Immense frustration' amongst farmers over 'hammered' beef prices
Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association beef chairman Edmund Graham said that it has "never been more costly" to produce beef, and the "lack of any recognition of that fact has created a tinderbox situation out there".
Meat factories are being warned that their "continued assault" on beef prices is having a "devastating effect" at farm level, and is causing "immense frustration" amongst farmers.
Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association beef chairman Edmund Graham said that the situation with beef prices has "reached a tipping point".
"Producing beef only to get hammered by the processors and come out making a loss is completely unsustainable. Farmers are at their wits' end," Mr Graham said.
"The power the processors wield has never been more evident as they continue to offer prices that simply do not reflect the actual cost of production.
"There appears to be no acknowledgement whatsoever of the challenges beef farmers have faced over the last year with input costs rising left right and centre."
Mr Graham said that it has "never been more costly" to produce beef, and the "lack of any recognition of that fact has created a tinderbox situation out there".
He stressed that factories must refrain from any further price cuts.
"The recently published Teagasc National Farm Survey for 2022 shows just how little the average beef farmer is making," he said.
"Adding insult to injury is the fact that factories had encouraged farmers to feed cattle for May and June."
Mr Graham said that a "tipping point" has been reached, and "there is literally no more they can take from farmers and still expect them to produce".
