The Irish Farmers Journal understands a new plan for the beef industry is to be launched at a meeting in Co Meath on Monday night, 24 September, by a group of beef farmers with a common goal, who have come together because of deep concerns over where the beef industry is going and the lack of profit for the primary producer.

The Irish Farmers Journal has seen the launch document, which includes an 86-point plan to try to turn around the current issues within the beef industry.

Number of phases

The plan outlines a number of phases, which include several references to producer groups and outlines an aim to have “50% of the country’s beef cattle sold through producer groups in the next three years”.

Under phase one, the plan proposes to hand in a number of demands to factories and give them time to respond.

If the response isn’t adequate, the plan proposes “not to send any cattle to a factory under a set price” and “not to send cattle to a particular factory at short notice”.

Bonus

The plan also proposes a suckler-bred bonus to reflect the higher costs of suckler beef production.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands that over 1,000 farmers have engaged with the group of farmers so far and the target for the group is to grow participant numbers very fast to add further strength to its calls to action.

Read more

Farmer writes: the lunacy of suckler farming

Suckler cow sector at a critical juncture