The suggestion by the IFA that the Department of Agriculture would implement new grading equations that “favours factories” over farmers has been disputed by the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed.

“The IFA is going around talking about a report that isn’t even public yet,” Minister Creed told the Irish Farmers Journal.

“Do you think I’m an idiot that I would be bringing in a system that was skewed in terms of factories?”

It emerged last week that a year-long trial of new beef-grading technology in Slaney included new grading equations unbeknownst to farm organisations.

The IFA insists that senior Department officials confirmed to them that following the outcome of the trial they were proposing to change equations on mechanical machines in the factories, and this would “reduce the conformation grades farmers get for their cattle by one sixth of a sub-class”.

IFA national livestock chair Angus Woods said the Department outlined the proposed changes “because of the changing profile of the national herd”.

“Department changes to mechanical classification, which will reduce the conformation score of cattle at factories and in turn the price paid to farmers, reward factories over farmers. This is totally unacceptable.”

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Beef grading trial ‘favours factories’

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