Factories and farmers have agreed that the 12c/kg Bord Bia Quality Assurance (BBQA) bonus will remain untouched. This comes in the wake of widespread confusion over how exactly a new quality assurance payment for in-spec heifers and steers will be funded. The new payment was negotiated at the last beef forum in November and it was agreed that it would be in place by 1 January 2015.

As well as a statement on Wednesday from Meat Industry Ireland (MII), the umbrella group for the country’s processors, a number of the individual processors have told the Irish Farmers Journal that the 12c/kg bonus will not be touched.

The individual processors all agreed that it is, as one processors put it, “next to impossible to touch the in-spec bonus … it’s something that neither us nor the industry want to do”.

Commenting on the processors’ intentions, IFA livestock committee chair Henry Burns said: “The new quality assurance price incentive must be worthwhile, be paid on all steers and heifers from QA farms, be implemented from January 1st and done in a positive way that will not impact negatively on the market.”

Burns also added that the 12c/kg payment is sacrosanct.

However, it remains unclear just how the new payment will be funded if the 12c/kg in-spec bonus cannot be touched.

With the factories and the IFA agreeing that the new payment will be implemented in a “cost-neutral” fashion, there are fears the new bonus will come from the base price paid for cattle.

MII chair Ciaran Fitzgerald confirmed that challenges remain with delivering a cost-neutral price incentive.

“Any cost-neutral incentive will essentially involve a redistribution of existing funds, which makes the exercise very challenging,” Fitzgerald said.

The IFA has again called on the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney to chair a meeting between the IFA and the processors in attempt to get clarity on the new payment.

“Minister Coveney must ensure that all of the agreed outcomes from the beef forum are fully implemented, in line with the timeframes laid down,” Henry Burns said.

“There can be no delays or sidestepping regarding the implementation of the outcomes from the beef forum,” he added.

Patrick Donohoe