With the legislation now signed off, the office of the Agri-Food Regulator - An Rialálaí Agraibhia - is now in place and chief executive Niamh Lenehan has been appointed.
With beef and sheep prices on a sharp downward curve over recent weeks, the new CEO will have a full in-tray and plenty of people advising on what should be top priority.
It has taken a long time to get the office in place and it may be far from perfect, but it is at least a start - there is now something where there was nothing before. However, it would be wrong to expect to be the solution to the falling prices of recent weeks.
For the office to best serve the interests of Irish farmers and other areas of the supply chain where there is huge imbalance, efforts should be directed at putting information structures in place.
The phrase 'knowledge is power' comes to mind and the reality for Irish farmers is that they have no real knowledge on what value is added to the animal they drop off at the factory gate.
Information is key
This doesn’t just apply to farmers. Surely everyone can see the irony of Bord Bia having to trawl through US offal and hide data to estimate the Irish value?
Admittedly, the US has the gold standard in price and stocks transparency - and hide and offal values are generally at a similar value across the globe.
Without access to real-time data on the value of the component parts of the carcase when broken up, there is no understanding of what value is added beyond the factory gate.
For example, Britain is the market outlet for 50% of our beef. The three largest retailers with half the market and the large burger chains sell British and Irish beef at the same value, yet Irish beef is worth 66c/kg less at the farmgate.
Possible valid explanation for price differential
Of course, there could be a perfectly valid explanation for this. Perhaps the rest of the British market has a higher value for British beef and offers Irish at a discount to customers or it may be that the 45% we sell to the EU is sold at a much lower value than British beef is sold.
The German and Dutch markets, both significant importers of Irish beef, have a lower farmgate price than Irish farmers at present for their R3 young bull compared with our R3 steer.
The other reality is that global beef and sheepmeat markets are particularly weak at present, with an abundance of supply from major exporters, with the exception of the US. Values per tonne in all cases are significantly lower than they were a year ago.
The regulator won't be able to give the answer on day one
The point of all this is that in the absence of information, we just don’t know why Irish steer beef is worth so much less than British at present and the regulator won't be able to give the answer on day one.
The important thing is that the office starts the process that ultimately enables it to find out.
Ideally, this would be done in tandem with the factories across the species, because it is generally accepted that meat processing is a low-margin business and Tyson foods, one of the biggest in the business, demonstrated this with its most recent quarterly accounts.
Clear messaging
A simple easily understood message is the best and most successful communication.
“Make America Great Again” was the slogan that propelled Donald Trump to the Whitehouse and “Get Brexit Done” won an election for Boris Johnson. While the policies of both leaders are open to challenge, their campaign message delivered.
Without wanting to put the Agri-Food Regulator's office into the realm of campaigning, its ambition should be to build farmer confidence in the supply chain to a level that withstands the ups and downs of market prices.
That will not be achieved instantly, but the longest journey starts with a single step and the first step in this case has been getting the office in place.
Read more
Agri-Food Regulator must tackle ‘cartel-like’ behaviour - Sinn Féin
ICMSA calls for food regulator to publish monthly prices received by retailers
Food regulator must deliver transparency on 'fifth quarter' - ICSA
With the legislation now signed off, the office of the Agri-Food Regulator - An Rialálaí Agraibhia - is now in place and chief executive Niamh Lenehan has been appointed.
With beef and sheep prices on a sharp downward curve over recent weeks, the new CEO will have a full in-tray and plenty of people advising on what should be top priority.
It has taken a long time to get the office in place and it may be far from perfect, but it is at least a start - there is now something where there was nothing before. However, it would be wrong to expect to be the solution to the falling prices of recent weeks.
For the office to best serve the interests of Irish farmers and other areas of the supply chain where there is huge imbalance, efforts should be directed at putting information structures in place.
The phrase 'knowledge is power' comes to mind and the reality for Irish farmers is that they have no real knowledge on what value is added to the animal they drop off at the factory gate.
Information is key
This doesn’t just apply to farmers. Surely everyone can see the irony of Bord Bia having to trawl through US offal and hide data to estimate the Irish value?
Admittedly, the US has the gold standard in price and stocks transparency - and hide and offal values are generally at a similar value across the globe.
Without access to real-time data on the value of the component parts of the carcase when broken up, there is no understanding of what value is added beyond the factory gate.
For example, Britain is the market outlet for 50% of our beef. The three largest retailers with half the market and the large burger chains sell British and Irish beef at the same value, yet Irish beef is worth 66c/kg less at the farmgate.
Possible valid explanation for price differential
Of course, there could be a perfectly valid explanation for this. Perhaps the rest of the British market has a higher value for British beef and offers Irish at a discount to customers or it may be that the 45% we sell to the EU is sold at a much lower value than British beef is sold.
The German and Dutch markets, both significant importers of Irish beef, have a lower farmgate price than Irish farmers at present for their R3 young bull compared with our R3 steer.
The other reality is that global beef and sheepmeat markets are particularly weak at present, with an abundance of supply from major exporters, with the exception of the US. Values per tonne in all cases are significantly lower than they were a year ago.
The regulator won't be able to give the answer on day one
The point of all this is that in the absence of information, we just don’t know why Irish steer beef is worth so much less than British at present and the regulator won't be able to give the answer on day one.
The important thing is that the office starts the process that ultimately enables it to find out.
Ideally, this would be done in tandem with the factories across the species, because it is generally accepted that meat processing is a low-margin business and Tyson foods, one of the biggest in the business, demonstrated this with its most recent quarterly accounts.
Clear messaging
A simple easily understood message is the best and most successful communication.
“Make America Great Again” was the slogan that propelled Donald Trump to the Whitehouse and “Get Brexit Done” won an election for Boris Johnson. While the policies of both leaders are open to challenge, their campaign message delivered.
Without wanting to put the Agri-Food Regulator's office into the realm of campaigning, its ambition should be to build farmer confidence in the supply chain to a level that withstands the ups and downs of market prices.
That will not be achieved instantly, but the longest journey starts with a single step and the first step in this case has been getting the office in place.
Read more
Agri-Food Regulator must tackle ‘cartel-like’ behaviour - Sinn Féin
ICMSA calls for food regulator to publish monthly prices received by retailers
Food regulator must deliver transparency on 'fifth quarter' - ICSA
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