The country’s largest beef processor is changing the way it administers levy collection, in a hammer blow to the IFA and the ICMSA. Larry Goodman’s ABP Group is contacting its thousands of farmer suppliers to explain the new system, which will inevitably result in a significant reduction in the levies collected by the Goodman Group on behalf of the country’s two largest farm organisations.
The European Involvement Fund levy yields an estimated €4.7m for the IFA. ABP collects an estimated €500,000 annually, split between the IFA and ICMSA. On average, it is worth €1.80/animal slaughtered.
Opt-in
It has always been automatically collected unless a farmer specifically instructs otherwise. In a departure from that practice, ABP will now only collect the levy if instructed to do so in advance by farmers who supply cattle for slaughter to them – an “opt-in” system. A form will be posted to farmers this week to be filled in and returned. If the levy form is not completed then no levy will be collected on behalf of that farmer.
The issue of levies has been a vexed question among farmers for some time, certainly since the beef protests of 2014. They are collected by slaughter plants, marts, milk processors, and grain merchants.
IFA main beneficiary
The IFA is the main beneficiary, with the ICMSA getting a share, and Macra benefitting from the dairy levy. It was instigated in the 1970s to help carry the cost of the IFA’s Brussels office, seen as a vital lobby for the Irish agri-food industry following our accession to the EEC.
The future of the levy was called into question in the wake of the pay revelation that saw the departures of general secretary Pat Smith and president Eddie Downey last November.
At the election hustings this spring, levies were raised nightly by IFA members. An initial review of the system carried out internally by the IFA has concluded that levies in conjunction with affiliation fees are still the best and fairest mechanism of revenue generation.
Will you be opting to pay the levy?
Read more
ABP Slaney deal to be examined by EU competition authority
ABP to control 30% of national kill
IFA reports 12% drop in levy collection
The country’s largest beef processor is changing the way it administers levy collection, in a hammer blow to the IFA and the ICMSA. Larry Goodman’s ABP Group is contacting its thousands of farmer suppliers to explain the new system, which will inevitably result in a significant reduction in the levies collected by the Goodman Group on behalf of the country’s two largest farm organisations.
The European Involvement Fund levy yields an estimated €4.7m for the IFA. ABP collects an estimated €500,000 annually, split between the IFA and ICMSA. On average, it is worth €1.80/animal slaughtered.
Opt-in
It has always been automatically collected unless a farmer specifically instructs otherwise. In a departure from that practice, ABP will now only collect the levy if instructed to do so in advance by farmers who supply cattle for slaughter to them – an “opt-in” system. A form will be posted to farmers this week to be filled in and returned. If the levy form is not completed then no levy will be collected on behalf of that farmer.
The issue of levies has been a vexed question among farmers for some time, certainly since the beef protests of 2014. They are collected by slaughter plants, marts, milk processors, and grain merchants.
IFA main beneficiary
The IFA is the main beneficiary, with the ICMSA getting a share, and Macra benefitting from the dairy levy. It was instigated in the 1970s to help carry the cost of the IFA’s Brussels office, seen as a vital lobby for the Irish agri-food industry following our accession to the EEC.
The future of the levy was called into question in the wake of the pay revelation that saw the departures of general secretary Pat Smith and president Eddie Downey last November.
At the election hustings this spring, levies were raised nightly by IFA members. An initial review of the system carried out internally by the IFA has concluded that levies in conjunction with affiliation fees are still the best and fairest mechanism of revenue generation.
Will you be opting to pay the levy?
Read more
ABP Slaney deal to be examined by EU competition authority
ABP to control 30% of national kill
IFA reports 12% drop in levy collection
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