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Irish Beefonomics: a branch of economics that follows no standard rules but has “worked” for years.
That was a neat summation of Irish beef farming by a UK-based acquaintance of mine. Simply put, his outsider view is that Irish beef is all about farmers selling and subsidy. This, he maintained, works for as long as it’s not making too much of a loss.
Now, however, low prices, subsidy plus off-farm income is not proving to be enough to make the difference. That’s the crux of the matter. The beef industry in Ireland, in its current form, grew on the back of membership of the EU and developed into the scale of what it is today on the back of subsidisation from Europe.
Prior to EEC membership, the cattle boat to the UK took the raw material and the worker from Ireland. European money and improvements in refrigeration allowed a beef processing industry to develop.
The beef industry worldwide is cut-throat, in every sense of the word. The Irish beef sector is a mix of business, culture and politics. A tricky combination. Unlike our bovine contemporaries in the dairy sector who for the most part have a common goal, everyone in the beef boat appears to be rowing in different directions.
Minister Michael Creed referenced the toxicity that permeates from the relationship between farmers and factories at Tullamore Show. That toxic atmosphere did not occur today or yesterday. Legacy issues on the factory side make it difficult for many primary producers to trust them.
A thorough restructure of the Irish beef sector would require an act of political suicide and is unlikely to occur. Economic reality will see the sector evolve, albeit at a slower pace than some would like. The need for votes means treading carefully.
Politics doesn’t always suit farmers because they’re generally their own boss and can make decisions instantly.
The IFA is working behind the scenes in Brussels attempting to lobby, but as a friend said, the ordinary farmer does not see that. In contrast, the stand made by the Beef Plan Movement at factory gates was very much in the public eye.
Social media
Social media brought the nitty gritty of protesting to more eyes than the IFA’s blockade outside factories almost 20 years ago. I was in secondary school then and it was via newspaper, radio and TV that we were informed of proceedings.
This time, videos doing the rounds on various platforms showed the good, the bad and the ugly as – on occasion – emotions ran high on both sides of the picket.
The fact that in a lot of cases the protagonists knew each other, either through business or as neighbours, may result in a longer-term fallout at local level.
Much was said in the heat of the moment and at times like that, it’s easy to forget that the spoken word can never be unheard. Hopefully when people bump into each other at funerals, marts or weddings, much of it will be left on the pitch, so to speak.
The protests showed what the Beef Plan Movement is capable of. I imagine their leaders learned an awful lot from the past fortnight also.
Mainstream media
It was telling that mainstream media didn’t pick up on the protests until there were job layoffs and it started affecting the wider community. The number of farmers as a percentage of the Irish population is decreasing and currently stands in the region of 2% or 3%. This means farmers’ voices will weaken as time goes on, so a whole new approach will have to be taken at farm politics level.
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