Factory blockades, the backlog of fit cattle, future of suckling, dairy calves, imported beef and the organisation of IFA were among the topics on which the candidates for the IFA presidency were quizzed in Mullingar on Thursday night. It was the husting for counties Westmeath and Longford.
Blockades and fall-out
Angus Woods said he was not surprised that there was now a backlog of finished cattle.
“EU price was on the floor, the EU market was in turmoil. Brexit was coming. Backing up cattle at that time was always going to create difficulties," he said, adding that it would take a long time to clear the backlog.
“The taskforce won’t deliver a magic bullet,” Woods said.
He said that there were too many groups representing farmers and that there had been a lot of “mixed-up thinking” in the talks that took place.
IFA presidential candidate Angus Woods.
The biggest losers from the blockades have been farmers, John Coughlan said.
“The Beef Taskforce needs to sit, and sit very fast, if we’re to get anything. It needs to put pressure on Bord Bia, on the factories and on the Department. If we’re not around the table, we’ll be in the same position in six months or 12 months’ time.”
He said: “I want to see forward pricing contracts for beef. We have it for milk and grain. I want the same for beef.”
We should have got in there and ensured it didn’t drag on
“Why do my colleagues keep defending the factories?” Cullinan asked. “No-one likes blocking up factories, but it was desperation that brought people to the gates.”
The IFA should have got involved from day one, he said. “We should have got in there and ensured it didn’t drag on. We wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in now.”
On factory trim and grading, Cullinan said that there were now cameras in every NCT car test centre and “there’s no reason why there can’t be cameras in the factories. It’s up to the Department to ensure farmers get fair play. But the Minister has sat on the fence to date.”
Imported beef
A number of farmers claimed that significant amounts of UK and Polish beef was being imported.
“It’s difficult for us to oppose 25,000t of UK beef being imported when we’re selling them 300,000t. Last year, 1,000t of Polish beef was imported. But it shouldn’t be brought in at a time when the market is weak,” Woods said.
Coughlan said: “We have a difficulty with imports, but we have to export. So we’ve to be careful from that point of view.”
Ninety containers of beef coming in? It’s a disgrace
Cullinan said: “Ninety containers of beef coming in? It’s a disgrace. We should be up in Dublin throwing it in the sea. I don’t know what’s going on in the Farm Centre.”
The tissue samples taken for BVD testing could be used verify if beef was from an Irish animal, he claimed.
IFA organisation
Cullinan and Woods again clashed on the organisation of committees within IFA. “I’m tired of Angus saying that I’m populist and that I want to split up the livestock committee,” Cullinan said.
His proposal is to have separate suckler and beef finisher committees, with the chair of each sitting on a newly-revamped 12-person IFA management board.
IFA presidential candidate Tim Cullinan.
“If a sector like milk can have two committees - dairy and liquid milk - so can livestock. If we’d had that representation, farmers wouldn’t have gone off to the other break-away groups.”
We don’t need any more committees
“We don’t need any more committees,” Woods said. “Nothing should come between committees and the president. Committees shouldn’t have to work through a board to get to the president.
"If I’m elected president, I will be fully available to all committees. From my experience, that’s how [the] IFA should work.”
On the issue of getting young people involved in the IFA, Woods said that it often just came down to picking up the phone and inviting them to get involved. That’s how he became involved.
Calves and dairy expansion
Carbon taxes and the threatened cut in suckler cow numbers were raised. “We’ve increased agricultural output by 40% since 1990 and emissions by less than 1%,” said Coughlan.
“In the same time, emissions from transport have increased dramatically. I don’t accept agriculture has to be the fall guy or that we cut our beef herd or any herd. I don’t accept any restrictions on our herds.”
IFA presidential candidate John Coughlan.
When oil is imported, the carbon emission is counted here, Cullinan said. “So if our food is exported, why not count the carbon emission there? We need to get back in and fight on this.”
If the suckler sector continues current progress, then it will meet its emissions targets, Woods said.
“The average steer is 9kg heavier and 34 days younger now. That’s a real improvement you can quantify. I certainly don’t agree that any sector should be sacrificed and, as a farm organisation, we’ll defend all sectors.”
Agriculture can reduce its carbon emissions through better genetics and better grassland management, he said.
On calves, Cullinan said that he had spoken to Bord Bia chief executive Tara McCarthy and asked her to put in place a €5m budget to “get calves out of Ireland”, to Holland, Spain and Italy.
“I would work closely with the dairy committee on this issue,” Woods said.
“It has the expertise. I’ve been in contact with the head vet in France and had real and meaningful discussions about expansion of lairage at Cherbourg.
"There’s a real chance of lairage being expanded. The best solution would be to get the two ferries to sail on alternate days – that would allow us max out existing lairage capacity.”
We’re devaluing calves and opening ourselves to criticism
“We need to be careful how we talk about this,” Coughlan said. “We’re devaluing calves and opening ourselves to criticism about how we rear them. We rear them well – that’s why we have good export customers.
"We need to look at north Africa – they want an older calf. And we can’t allow Teagasc and the dairy co-ops to walk away from this problem.”
Read more
Beef from Poland: how much is imported to Ireland?
IFA hustings: beef grading and labelling raised in Mayo
Galway IFA hustings: suckler scrappage scheme and IFA reform the hot topics
Irish Farmers Journal beef and sheep mart demo series
Factory blockades, the backlog of fit cattle, future of suckling, dairy calves, imported beef and the organisation of IFA were among the topics on which the candidates for the IFA presidency were quizzed in Mullingar on Thursday night. It was the husting for counties Westmeath and Longford.
Blockades and fall-out
Angus Woods said he was not surprised that there was now a backlog of finished cattle.
“EU price was on the floor, the EU market was in turmoil. Brexit was coming. Backing up cattle at that time was always going to create difficulties," he said, adding that it would take a long time to clear the backlog.
“The taskforce won’t deliver a magic bullet,” Woods said.
He said that there were too many groups representing farmers and that there had been a lot of “mixed-up thinking” in the talks that took place.
IFA presidential candidate Angus Woods.
The biggest losers from the blockades have been farmers, John Coughlan said.
“The Beef Taskforce needs to sit, and sit very fast, if we’re to get anything. It needs to put pressure on Bord Bia, on the factories and on the Department. If we’re not around the table, we’ll be in the same position in six months or 12 months’ time.”
He said: “I want to see forward pricing contracts for beef. We have it for milk and grain. I want the same for beef.”
We should have got in there and ensured it didn’t drag on
“Why do my colleagues keep defending the factories?” Cullinan asked. “No-one likes blocking up factories, but it was desperation that brought people to the gates.”
The IFA should have got involved from day one, he said. “We should have got in there and ensured it didn’t drag on. We wouldn’t be in the situation we’re in now.”
On factory trim and grading, Cullinan said that there were now cameras in every NCT car test centre and “there’s no reason why there can’t be cameras in the factories. It’s up to the Department to ensure farmers get fair play. But the Minister has sat on the fence to date.”
Imported beef
A number of farmers claimed that significant amounts of UK and Polish beef was being imported.
“It’s difficult for us to oppose 25,000t of UK beef being imported when we’re selling them 300,000t. Last year, 1,000t of Polish beef was imported. But it shouldn’t be brought in at a time when the market is weak,” Woods said.
Coughlan said: “We have a difficulty with imports, but we have to export. So we’ve to be careful from that point of view.”
Ninety containers of beef coming in? It’s a disgrace
Cullinan said: “Ninety containers of beef coming in? It’s a disgrace. We should be up in Dublin throwing it in the sea. I don’t know what’s going on in the Farm Centre.”
The tissue samples taken for BVD testing could be used verify if beef was from an Irish animal, he claimed.
IFA organisation
Cullinan and Woods again clashed on the organisation of committees within IFA. “I’m tired of Angus saying that I’m populist and that I want to split up the livestock committee,” Cullinan said.
His proposal is to have separate suckler and beef finisher committees, with the chair of each sitting on a newly-revamped 12-person IFA management board.
IFA presidential candidate Tim Cullinan.
“If a sector like milk can have two committees - dairy and liquid milk - so can livestock. If we’d had that representation, farmers wouldn’t have gone off to the other break-away groups.”
We don’t need any more committees
“We don’t need any more committees,” Woods said. “Nothing should come between committees and the president. Committees shouldn’t have to work through a board to get to the president.
"If I’m elected president, I will be fully available to all committees. From my experience, that’s how [the] IFA should work.”
On the issue of getting young people involved in the IFA, Woods said that it often just came down to picking up the phone and inviting them to get involved. That’s how he became involved.
Calves and dairy expansion
Carbon taxes and the threatened cut in suckler cow numbers were raised. “We’ve increased agricultural output by 40% since 1990 and emissions by less than 1%,” said Coughlan.
“In the same time, emissions from transport have increased dramatically. I don’t accept agriculture has to be the fall guy or that we cut our beef herd or any herd. I don’t accept any restrictions on our herds.”
IFA presidential candidate John Coughlan.
When oil is imported, the carbon emission is counted here, Cullinan said. “So if our food is exported, why not count the carbon emission there? We need to get back in and fight on this.”
If the suckler sector continues current progress, then it will meet its emissions targets, Woods said.
“The average steer is 9kg heavier and 34 days younger now. That’s a real improvement you can quantify. I certainly don’t agree that any sector should be sacrificed and, as a farm organisation, we’ll defend all sectors.”
Agriculture can reduce its carbon emissions through better genetics and better grassland management, he said.
On calves, Cullinan said that he had spoken to Bord Bia chief executive Tara McCarthy and asked her to put in place a €5m budget to “get calves out of Ireland”, to Holland, Spain and Italy.
“I would work closely with the dairy committee on this issue,” Woods said.
“It has the expertise. I’ve been in contact with the head vet in France and had real and meaningful discussions about expansion of lairage at Cherbourg.
"There’s a real chance of lairage being expanded. The best solution would be to get the two ferries to sail on alternate days – that would allow us max out existing lairage capacity.”
We’re devaluing calves and opening ourselves to criticism
“We need to be careful how we talk about this,” Coughlan said. “We’re devaluing calves and opening ourselves to criticism about how we rear them. We rear them well – that’s why we have good export customers.
"We need to look at north Africa – they want an older calf. And we can’t allow Teagasc and the dairy co-ops to walk away from this problem.”
Read more
Beef from Poland: how much is imported to Ireland?
IFA hustings: beef grading and labelling raised in Mayo
Galway IFA hustings: suckler scrappage scheme and IFA reform the hot topics
Irish Farmers Journal beef and sheep mart demo series
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