Ewe payment proposed for sheep

By Pat O' Toole

Last Thursday, 10,000 farmers protested in Dublin during a visit by JosÅ Manuel Barroso. As part of the Mandelson Shutdown, the agricultural industry stood still from noon until 3pm.

In a week when sheep prices have plummeted, further undermining precarious farmer confidence, a major report on the European sheep sector has called for an environmental headage payment on ewes. MEP Liam Aylward's report for the European Parliament has spelled out the precarious state of the industry, describing it as "characterised by low producer incomes, falling domestic production, declining consumption and exposed to increasing international market competition''. The report, which comes before the EU's Agriculture committee next month, also demands EU and country of origin labelling and a ringfenced EU lamb promotion budget. It proposes a Task Force be set up to oversee implementation of these measures.

The report has been widely welcomed, and could not have come at a better time. Quotes for lambs dropped this week by 30c to €4.75, with hoggets faring even worse, down 35c to €3.65. Factories are blaming market forces, with a slipping French market, weak Sterling, and poor skin values cited. However, IFA say that the kill, running at little over 30,000 animals/week, is largely destined for the domestic market. They have accused the five major factory groups, along with the four large supermarket chains, of undermining the lamb market to boost profits. In meetings with the IFA, the factories claimed that supermarkets will only pay up to a certain - insufficient - price for spring lamb. With the supermarkets set to switch over from hoggets to spring lamb, these weeks are critical in establishing price trends for the year. The IFA is expected to target supermarkets in the coming days in a push for viable producer prices.

Minister Coughlan has announced an increase to the Single Payment threshold for qualification under the special sheep category of the 2007 National Reserve from €6,000 to €10,000. This should ensure delivery of the available €6m under the measure. However, this is unlikely to appease the IFA, who are demanding full delivery on the €34m package announced last May. "IFA will not allow the Government walk away from their commitments to the sheep sector,'' said sheep committee chairman Henry Burns in response to speculation of a possible cabinet change in Agriculture.