After a year of weather-driven hardship, the only sustainable thought in farmers’ minds as we move from autumn into winter is "will I have enough fodder to sustain me through the winter and will prices in spring be strong enough for me to sustain the business into 2019 and beyond?"

This is the immediate stress for farmers but in the wider horizon there is another reality in that livestock farming is portrayed as the main culprit in global warming because ruminant livestock produce methane.

The fact that this is oversimplified and, as a Rabobank executive described this week as “intellectually lazy”, is neither here or there.

Modern society needs someone to blame and a quick simple solution that brings bearable inconvenience and that is it. A meat-free Monday is a simple slogan and fits the bill – box, ticked and job done.

Emissions

Of course in the real world it isn’t as simple as that. In Ireland, for example, one of the major livestock countries in the EU, buildings and transport are greater offenders in terms of GHG emissions than cattle.

However, a debate that suggested doubling the cost of housing to reduce emissions or putting people on bikes or slower electric vehicles isn’t as politically palatable as having a go at farmers producing livestock.

Whatever about the unfairness, the global meat industry has to push back on the challenge and it is.

This week in Kilkenny, over 20 countries, all major beef producers, met in a global conference on sustainable beef. All of these are competitors for Irish farmers and factories as we search for export markets but as always when there is an industry-wide challenge as the climate change debate is, then it is timely to work together.

Origin green

It was fascinating to listen to speakers commend the Irish Origin Green initiative and relate in the case of the south Americans that while it wasn’t an issue in their domestic markets, GHG emissions was a big deal for their customers in export markets. That made it an issue for them as well.

Tellingly, the original driver for the Global roundtable initiative was Mc Donald’s and it has been around for more than a decade though the European section was only formally launched on Thursday of this week.

McDonald’s with its globally famous Big Mac is the consumer-facing part of the beef industry and irrespective of that other products they develop, beef burgers will always be core to their business.

No doubt all retailers with an interest in selling beef have an interest in the work of the global roundtable.

Common interest

The processing industry too has huge skin in the game and it was no surprise to see Ireland’s and now the UK’s big three – ABP, Dawn and Kepak – all to the forefront of the roundtable.

The closest to direct farmer involvement was through one of the conference sponsors Bord Bia, whose Origin Green scheme was referenced as a model by many speakers from around the world.

There is a temptation to be cynical about these gatherings where competitors promise to prioritise the greater good of an industry while at the same time trying to gain any competitive advantage that they can.

However, some issues are genuinely bigger than individual customer, processor and supplier relationships. The climate change debate is with us and the beef industry has to fight its corner collectively because the scale of opposition is huge even if not always the best informed or objective and fair.

Listen to "Phelim O'Neill speaking to Justin Sherrard from Rabobank" on Spreaker.