Politicians, meat plants and the Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) were all in the firing line, as over 150 beef farmers gathered in Cookstown on Tuesday night to voice concerns about the low prices being paid to producers.

Included within the audience were a sizeable number of farmers from the Republic of Ireland (ROI), many of whom had stood on picket lines outside factories over the last two months. A significant number of them came with an agenda to encourage farmers in NI to follow their lead.

Nine weeks ago we went out to stop factories. What did you do? You need to do the same. There is a rebellion needed

Others made claims about the control exerted by ABP in the market in Ireland and Britain.

“Close him [Larry Goodman] down until you get the right price,” urged another.

Withholding cattle

Despite that, there was little appetite among NI farm groups for such direct action now, and the tactic that might initially be employed would be to ask farmers to withhold cattle rather than stand outside factory gates.

“We reserve the right to go down that route when the time is right, but not this side of Christmas. Ultimately, the way to deal with Mr Goodman and others is with legislation on farmgate prices,” said William Taylor from Farmers For Action (FFA).

“We may have to go protest at a later stage, but our farmers can’t afford to hold livestock,” added Sean Fitzpatrick from the NI Agricultural Producers’ Association (NIAPA).

Also on the stage, Ernie Ritchie from the National Beef Association (NBA) outlined how his organisation is due to meet MPs at Westminster later this month. He said they will be pushing for more transparency and competition in the beef market, and extended powers for the Groceries Code Adjudicator.

Criticism

The failure of any local politicians to attend the meeting and show support for struggling beef farmers did not go down well with the audience.

“It is a damning indictment that there are none here tonight,” said Ritchie.

Meanwhile, criticism for the LMC centred around the perceived failure to counter negative claims about eating beef, the poorly designed and recognised farm quality assured logo, and the passing on of information to meat plants on cattle numbers on farms.

The meeting concluded with a series of votes. Farmers at the meeting were clear that they won’t be producing beef commercially in two years if prices continue to stagnate. There was also unanimous support for a demand from the three groups (FFA, NIAPA and the NBA) that Stormont gets up and running immediately, and for legislation to set minimum prices for farmgate produce.

The groups were also given a mandate to seek meetings with the LMC board, and NI meat processors to demand the same changes to specs and bonus payments as recently agreed in ROI. In addition, after ROI farmers secured a €100m emergency aid package in July, the groups will be requesting similar aid for NI beef farmers from government.

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