The Beef Forum will fail unless factories immediately increase the price to reflect the improved market and address specification issues, IFA President Eddie Downey has warned.

Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney confirmed at yesterday's meeting that the next meeting of the Beef Forum will take place on 12 November and in the interim, he expects significant progress to be made on the market price and specification issues.

At the Minister’s request, farm groups and processors have now agreed to engage in intensive discussions over the next two weeks on the commercial issues in dispute, under an independent chair, Michael Dowling.

The Minster also secured a strong endorsement from all stakeholders for the establishment of farmer owned Producer Organisations in the beef sector, to help to rebalance negotiating power along.

Speaking after the meeting, Downey said he made it very clear to the Minister and the factories at the Beef Forum that they must respond to this week’s 24-hour beef protest by addressing the massive €350 per head price gap that has now opened up with our main export market in the UK.

Speaking after the meeting, The Minister said he was delighted that all participants endorsed the establishment of producer organisations. "Providing for Producer Organisations in the sectors such as beef was a strong focus of mine in the re-negotiated CAP last year. It is clear to me that they represent the best opportunity to re-balance the relationship in the supply chain between producers and processors by empowering farmers to organise collectively for the purposes of negotiating on prices with processors."

Bord Bia made a detailed presentation on markets at the meeting, outlining that the price gap between Irish and UK cattle prices has widened to 96c/kg, or €350 per head. Representatives of Tesco and McDonalds, two of the largest purchasers of Irish beef, addressed the Beef Forum and confirmed that they had not changed any of their specifications in the last 12 months.

According to the IFA, the Minister acknowledged that trust had clearly broken down between processors and producers and farmers feel they are not getting a fair deal on price from the factories. Minister Coveney said afterwards: “I am fully aware that beef farmers have had a challenging year having seen reduced prices for their animals compared to this time last year. I welcome the honest exchange of views between stakeholders today."

With UK beef prices increasing by 30c/kg (€100 per head) in the last number of weeks, the IFA President said there is no excuse for the factories to withhold a price increase to farmers. He said there is no credible explanation why the strong price increase in the UK, which takes over half of our exports, is not reflected in higher prices to Irish farmers.

The IFA President said for the past 12 months, farmers have being hammered with loss-making prices and specification cuts that have decimated their incomes. “Farmers cannot continue to sell cattle at a loss. Teagasc figures show that on our most efficient farms, producers need a base price of at least €4.00/kg.”