Is 2014 the year that the Irish beef sector has lost? Factories and farmers have clashed as a myriad of problems engulfed the sector over the past 12 months.

There have been successive price cuts by the country’s processors resulting from, what they call, a depressed beef consumer market. This has resulted in farmer anger, leading to countless protests across the country as well as a deepening mistrust from farmer to factory.

There has been one common thread running through the entire crisis and that is communications, or lack thereof, between processor and farmer. In an attempt to counteract the beef price crisis, Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney commissioned Michael Dowling to draft a report

It is, perhaps, fair to surmise that the recommendations of the Dowling report as well as the response from the processors through Meat Industry Ireland (MII) have done little to ease tensions. The mistrust remains between most farmers and their processors.

In attempt to be “proactive” and tackle the communication issue, as well as others, head on, Niall Browne, managing director of Dawn Meats, contacted the Irish Farmers Journal. Browne wanted to get his point across about how the sector communicates with farmers and about the beef crisis as a whole.

Browne is fresh from what is generally perceived as a less than satisfactory performance at the Agricultural Science Association (ASA) annual conference in September where he showed a lack of empathy towards farmers with his no-nonsense approach to an all-Ireland beef label, which he described as a “non-event”.

Communications

So how does he Browne sum up 2014 so far? He admits being part of the problem, but argues that “experts” from outside the sector have contributed to the scenario we find ourselves in.

“One of the main things we can remember 2014 for is, in one word, communication. The lack of communication from the meat industry ... I believe we’re guilty of that and I believe that we need to change. Because there is that information vacuum, you have various commentators giving their opinion on what the reality is but, in fact, in many cases it’s just their perception and because you don’t have anybody correcting that perspective it becomes the reality for people who listen to them,” Browne said

To counteract these perceived thoughts, Browne said that Dawn, as well as the other beef processors, need to do something they have been more than reluctant to do for generations – communicate with farmers directly and through the press.

“We need to communicate with the media when other commentators or lobby organisations are making statements or claims where we feel they are not correct. Then we will give the other side of the story. That’s the big vacuum that I think is missing,” Browne said.

He went to considerable lengths to argue that his interview with the Irish Farmers Journal was the “first step” to improved communications between farmers and processors, although he was unable to give exact details on how he would like to see the communication landscape changing.

Browne did say that both factories and farmers need to “extend the hand of trust” to each other in order to move on from the current problems.

Specifications

Specification changes to how processors, through their retailer clients, want cattle produced has been one of the most contentious issues of the year.

“Browne maintains that Dawn announced changes to its specs two years ago in a newsletter to its suppliers and has not made any new changes since. However, farmers have reported being penalised by Dawn, as well as others, this year for cattle that were not penalised last year. He maintains that the processor and the farmer must produce what the retailer and the consumer demands.

“Where sometimes we will have a disagreement with people is that where we have the customer saying they will take this specification and that will be for practical reasons. The majority of beef that you see sold in a supermarket is sold in a pre-packed format. So that is sold in a very defined specification that the meat must fit into.

“For people who argue that it doesn’t matter what the customer wants, we’ll give them what we want so they’ll just have to change the size of their packs, their freezers, the whole lot – that’s not realistic,” he said.

Bord Bia has never been far from farmers’ anger and criticism this year for a perceived lack of activity with regards to promotion of Irish beef abroad as well as the opening up of new markets. Figures reported by the Irish Farmers Journal last month showed that just €400,000 was spent on the promotion of beef in Britain, where over half of our beef is exported to, while over €1m was spent on the German market which accounted for just 15,000t of beef exports.

“The key thing for us as a business, rather than commenting on what Bord Bia is doing, is about relationships and getting boots on the ground, getting to know what the customer wants. That’s what it’s all about,” Browne said.

“You can rattle out a figure on what is spent in the UK but you have to remember that the UK is a very mature market. The relationships are well-established. But, due to BSE reasons, Irish beef was out of Germany for 15 years and therefore we do need to reinvent ourselves … we’re starting from scratch,” he added.

Dawn exports 90% of the beef it processes in Ireland to approximately 40 different countries.

The future of beef

With Irish farming edging closer and closer to the removal of dairy quotas, the livestock landscape is already starting to take on a dairy influence. This move towards a national herd with a greater dairy influence is sitting uneasily with some suckler farmers.

Is there a reassurance there for the suckler farmer? Browne, after two attempts to deflect the question, gave his view.

“We’re convinced that the future of the beef industry is very bright in the medium to long term.

“All you have to do is look at the population forecasts – the doubling of the middle class by 2030 [means] demand for beef is going to multiply by more than what is available in the world and therefore for business – and by business I mean farmers and processors – that can be very efficient.

“There will be opportunities for them,” Browne said.

Browne confirmed Dawn is working with Teagasc to produce a dairy beef cross cow, crossed with a Charolais or Limousin that could produce a cow that could “maximise grass usage and stay on the ground longer”.

“We feel that there is a good future for those producing suckler beef as a well as dairy beef because there will be a requirement for both types of beef and the markets for both are different,” he said.

At the ASA conference in September, a group of farmers criticised Browne and Dawn Meats for wanting to move away from a grass-finished system in favour of finishing animals younger and off more concentrates. Browne rejects this notion.

“That is entirely incorrect. The future of beef in this country will be off grass-fed animals,” he said.

Profitable beef farming

The Teagasc/Irish Farmers Journal BETTER Farm programme has long been considered the model for profitable suckler and beef farming in the country. However, with BETTER farmers on marginal land only making a profit after the Single Farm Payment is included, how does the beef industry intend on mapping out a future for beef farmers under pressure?

“There is major concern that we have beef farmers who are not profitable. We need to focus on each link in the chain. We have to focus on the guys producing calves, the ones rearing, the guys doing finishing and the ones doing cow to calf. Everything needs to be brought together,” he said.

“One thing we’ll be calling for at the next beef forum is the [establishment] of a taskforce with the processing industry, Teagasc [and] Bord Bia [which will look at] each sector in beef and see what it needs to do to become profitable. It’s a broad church of 110,000 beef farmers and just to look at them in total is a mistake,” Browne said.

Browne added that farmers who are “open-minded” and “willing to look at their business differently” could get “massive returns” from beef farming.