October 29, 2010

Irish beef farmers lack confidence in payment system

The Irish beef sector will not play full role in national recovery until farmers' confidence in the current price grid is restored, according to Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA).

"We are now fast approaching December 15 which would mark the first anniversary of the introduction of the present beef grid," spokesman Kevin Connolly said.

"A very substantial majority of Irish farmers simply did not possess any confidence in the current grid which is arbitrary, over-complicated and incapable of transmitting logical and simple messages back to farmers about the prices they can expect to receive," he added.

The ICMSA official said it was common knowledge all over Ireland that even experienced cattle agents were now confessing that they had no idea what cattle would make on the current grid.

The resulting loss of confidence was having an enormous knock-on in terms of the ongoing reduction in the national suckler herd and the decision of many dairy farmers to cease a beef operation.

Connolly acknowledged that the current grid was not within the remit of the minister but he pointed out that the mechanical graders were definitely the responsibility of the department. Persistent reports about malfunctions had undermined farmer confidence in this critical area.

"It should be possible for the department to publish the results of their inspections of the mechanical graders in exactly the same way as they publish the results of their milk quality inspections," he stated.