It is just over a year since beef prices started to move upwards and – thankfully – they have kept trending this way.

The fact that the Irish price increase has been part of a global trend of rising agri commodity prices reflects how our price is shaped by what happens elsewhere, rather than by anything clever we have done to add value.

Ironically, it is perhaps the fact that we are locked into second preferred supplier status in the UK market that prevents us fully exploiting the exceptionally high spot markets for manufacturing beef in central Europe.

When the beef market was depressed for several years, the consolation was that prices were even worse in many EU countries, with the Netherlands and Poland frequently highlighted. For several months now, they have enjoyed an R3 young bull price that is well ahead of the Irish R3 steer price.

We are pursuing a Protected Geographic Indication (PGI) for Irish grass-fed beef as the foundation on which to build a brand that is intended to premiumise Irish beef. There is nothing to lose by pursuing this but the evidence of recent months suggests that it is the international tide of beef prices that raises or lowers what is paid in Ireland.

This week's cartoon

\ Jim Cogan

Dilemma for tillage farmers

Glanbia and Dairygold offered record forward green harvest prices this week for September at €300 and €305/t for barley and €310 and €315/t for wheat. While the prices will provide comfort to a sector battling soaring input costs, they present a dilemma for many as prices jump around.

At the end of February, we saw record prices but at a much lower level of €222/t and €232/t respectively for green barley and wheat. The decision on whether to lock in to what is at this point a strong price depends on the appetite for risk and level of financial exposure. While it makes little sense to sell forward at a loss, fixing a volume at a price that locks in a level of profitability would provide significant comfort.

Meanwhile, with fixed prices of over €300/t available, the livestock and non-ruminant sector need to be planning ahead for a sustained period of high feed prices.

Dairy Vision group must look beyond farmers

Minister McConalogue chairing the second implementation meeting for Food Vision 2030.

In this week's edition, Jack Kennedy details the recommendations in the Food Vision dairy report. The report amounts to a list of some very substantial asks of dairy farmers, with significant consequences for the wider industry.

It should be viewed as a first step in a long debate. The next step for the group should be to quantify the financial implications of these asks on farm profitability and then come forward with recommendations for how Government should develop a policy and financial framework to support the environmental ambition. It is only at this point that a proper debate on the measures recommended at farm level can even be considered.

Teagasc figures present a wake-up call

Figures presented by Teagasc this week should be a wake-up call. There is too much comfort being taken from what appear to be strong commodity prices. Ultimately, it is profitability that matters and the Teagasc figures show the extent to which rising input costs are going to severely erode this.

We see profit for the suckler, beef and sheep sectors forecast to fall by 20-30% with 25% forecast in tillage.

No other sector of society is as exposed to such severe income cuts. The Teagasc figures further highlight the critical need for Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to reinvest the €40m BEAM underspend/clawback back into livestock farms.