The growing gap between the Irish and British cattle price is putting the future of the Beef Forum at risk.

Over the past 12 months, the differential between the Irish and British price has risen and stands at €1.11/kg, or €400 on a typical animal. While the Irish price is equivalent to last year, the British price in euro terms has increased by 35c/kg.

Despite the inability of Irish processors to return a comparable price to what is being delivered in our main export market, they remain intent on trying to impose penalties on what they class as out-of-spec animals. This is seeing some farmers incur penalties of up to 20c/kg for animals over 420kg deadweight or 30 months of age.

The processors view the forum as a means to drive through these changes. In such an environment, it is difficult to see what benefits farmers can achieve from continued participation.