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In light of the Brexit result last Friday, IFA national livestock chair Angus Woods called for the beef forum to be reconvened as "a matter of urgency", as supplies of finished cattle remain extremely tight.
According to Woods, factories had started putting unnecessary pressure on cattle prices. "It is very clear the beef sector needs more competition and live export markets to Turkey and other north African and Middle Eastern markets need to open up as soon as possible," he said.
Minister Creed responded positively to the IFA request to convene a meeting of the beef forum and said he would do so in mid-July.
Woods also requested the Minister to reopen the Beef Data Genomics Programme for sucklers.
New sheep scheme linked to EID
IFA national sheep committee chair John Lynskey told the Minister that proposals from the factories and others to link the new €10 per ewe scheme to EID tagging were being received very negatively at farm level. According to Lynskey, the EU Commission has made it very clear to the IFA that the current derogation on EID for lambs directly to slaughter will remain in place.
Minister Creed said it was clear that the sheep sector needed additional support and he noted the views of farmers on EID.
State aid for dairying
On dairying IFA dairy chair Sean O Leary said urgent action is needed by the Government to provide low-cost short-term loans to alleviate cashflow pressures and reduce the high cost of merchant credit, adding that the EU Agriculture Council has already given the go-ahead for state aid in this area.
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