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There are excellent opportunities available for farmers if we work smart and make correct decisions.
Don’t get me wrong – farmers are backed up against a wall by processors, retailers and consumers in their quest for cheaper and cheaper food.
The price pressure on farmers is not unlike the accumulating pressure on tectonic plates under the earth’s surface.
Everything appears quiet until suddenly an earthquake materialises or a volcano erupts in the form of a mass demonstration or protest by farmers or by a food safety concern orchestrated by criminality, as was the case in the horsemeat scandal.
However, after the lava hurtles down the volcano and wipes out life, regrowth happens and plants and animals return.
Fresh Irish meat
Similarly, farmers and food security are brought back into the limelight after a food scare. Consumers changed their buying to steer clear of the 5c frozen burgers and instead choose to shop in their local butchers for their fresh Irish meat.
The people living on the fault lines can’t do anything about the inevitable earthquakes and volcanoes, but retailers, processors and Government can be proactive in ensuring that food is not sought or purchased from farmers below cost of production, thus denying farmers and farm families a fair standard of living.
So what about these excellent opportunities?
Firstly, farmers slaughtering steers and heifers should be quality assured. As Tommy Moyles pointed out in a recent article, the financial benefits are substantial, and the Quality Assurance benefits extend beyond the slaughter value of the animal.
Should a beef farmer sell forward stores and they are not Quality Assured, expect to receive a lower price than an equal animal of Quality Assured status – owing to the fact that the purchaser is required to keep the steer or heifer for 70 days before it can attain Quality Assured status.
More productive lambs
The recently introduced Sheep Welfare Scheme is a fantastic initiative from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
At €10/ewe and, let’s face it, minimal paperwork when compared to other schemes, it is a no-brainer. Notwithstanding the direct payment element, the tasks which farmers elect to carry out will make a substantial difference to flock performance and better, more productive lambs at sale time.
The tasks include feeding minerals to ewes and lambs, controlling parasites, flies and lameness and scanning ewes. All of these tasks should be commonplace on a sheep enterprise to enhance the farm business and drive efficiency.
There are opportunities there for farmers if we want them. Farmers will continue to work hard delivering a quality product. It’s up to consumers to drive the demand for quality, nutritious food.
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