‘The farmer deserves to get more’

By John McCarthy

The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) has contracted a leading economist to determine what happens between the time beef leaves the farmer and when the consumer buys it. IFA president Joe Healy said there is anger and frustration amongst farmers and that it would be a waste of time going back into talks if price cannot be discussed.

“The amount of anger and frustration that’s out there on the ground amongst farmers because they’re expected to sell beef at so much below the figure that’s given by Teagasc that covers the cost of production, so that anger is there, and farmers are fighting for their livelihoods here,” he told RTÉ radio’s News at One.

“It’s a waste of time going back into talks if we can’t talk about price.”

Mr Healy said the price of beef was the elephant in the room at previous talks.

“We mentioned price every day that we were in there, unfortunately it couldn’t be talked about or so we were told,” he said.

I can’t see why price can’t be talked about because, OK, price mightn’t be agreed in there and the competition law states that, but price can still be talked about in there because it’s very clear, no matter what farmer you talk to, it’s all about price.

Mr Healy was adamant that Irish consumers were very happy with the standard and the safety of the meat produced in Ireland and the top quality standards it is produced to, but added: “I also think that the farmer deserves to get more from that consumer euro than they are getting.

“We have retained the economist Jim Power to get in behind a lot of the questions that there are no answers to out in public.

“Everyone knows what the farmer is getting, everyone knows what the consumer is paying, but no one seems to know what’s happening between the time it leaves the farmer and the time the consumer buys it, so the processor and the retailer — there are a lot of questions to be asked there and to try and figure out a way of passing on more of that consumer euro back to the farmer.

“What the farmer wants here is a price increase.”

He said the EU market was oversupplied and needed to be rebalanced.