There is a limit to how much farmers can take and if the beef processors want a future there have to play fair with farmers, Eddie Punch, general secretary of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA) has said.

Punch was speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal at a beef protest outside ABP in Clones, Co Monaghan, on Friday morning, where a number of farmers from the ICSA began protesting from 7am.

“We’ve sent a very strong signal out to meat factories that if they want to undermine our business their business is also vulnerable to farmers if they really want to push us this far.

“This is probably only the beginning, unless we see an end to these price cuts. We want to see the price cutting reversed. It’s gone too far, and farmers are on their knees. It is scandalous that the price has been cut so much and our objective here is to stop the rot. We’re going to do more of this if that’s what it takes.

“If factories want to push farmers really hard in terms of cutting price, there’s a limit to how much farmers can take. Farmers have had a terrible year and I think they’re getting more and more militant. They have had enough.

Farmers protest at the ABP plant in Clones, Co Monaghan. \ Lorraine Teevan

“They want a future in the beef industry but if the beef processors want a future they have to play fair with farmers and that’s not happening this year,” he said.

There was a constant garda presence at the protest, with Punch saying that the farmers “had a frank exchange with gardaí".

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