Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, says the first law of thermodynamics (no less!), but it can be transferred from one form to another. Put another way, overall inputs and outputs in any system are fairly consistent and cannot simply disappear at the stroke of a pen.

It seems, however, that our Minister for Agriculture is unaware of this universal law.

Or if he is aware of it, he must be hoping that us sheep farmers do not find out about it any time soon. Because when news broke last week about the Minister’s heavy-handed introduction of EID, it looked like some of the meat industry’s costs disappeared with a stroke of his pen.

Saving the factory money

During a recent online discussion, an instance was cited of three employees manually checking tag numbers as lambs entered a meat-processing factory. EID will automate this task and the meat factory will lower its labour costs.

And Macra? I’m not aware of their mandate to represent sheep farmers but their meek request for savings to be passed onto farmers hardly has anyone shaking in their boots

But this is only half the story. The other half is that decreased cost for the factory is simply being transferred to the sheep farmer who must pay an increased cost for animal ID tags.

To paraphrase that physics law above, costs are neither created nor destroyed but transferred from one part of the supply chain to another. This is exactly what’s happening with EID.

But wait, you say, what about new markets, traceability, China and all that? A good question, in fairness, until we look at New Zealand and their sale of lamb into China with no EID.

What about the positive response from pedigree sheep breeders and Macra? Well, pedigree breeders have been using EID for years and their produce sells from five to 15 times that of a commercial sheep farmer, so that’s not a fair comparison.

And Macra? I’m not aware of their mandate to represent sheep farmers but their meek request for savings to be passed onto farmers hardly has anyone shaking in their boots.

Lack of co-operation

The holes in the EID argument are plentiful and we could spend the day driving a coach and four through them. The bigger issue is a lack of equality across the supply chain between farmers, processors, and retailers.

The cost of any new technology like EID must be spread across the entire sector, not just the farmer who is hog-tied into position and scarcely represented when discussions take place.

If EID is introduced all players must step up: from the factories who are saving labour costs, to the marketeers who can use EID to justify increased consumer prices and finally the farmers who should have an easier means to track production and less paperwork.

If everyone benefits, then everyone must invest their fair share. If farmers are going to pay more than their fair share, then others are the beneficiaries of a simple cash transfer.

Minister Creed must stand up for himself and stop being manipulated by the meat industry. It’s not too late for him to act as an honest broker. Sheep farmers have enough hanging over them without the big businesses in the meat industry using the Government to cast another shadow on us.

Kieran Sullivan and his brother farm part-time in Co Waterford. You can follow him on Twitter: @kieran_sullivan

Read more

Farmer writes: Grappling with a GPS system