To date, farmers have focused their frustration on low prices and strict carcase specifications on beef processors.

We have seen pickets taking place, on and off, at factory gates now for almost six weeks.

The action has caused major disruption to the flow of finished cattle and in many cases farmers with stock to sell have been hardest hit.

Pressure has come on Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed to once again intervene in the ongoing dispute. To his credit, the Minster used the influence of his department to bring the stakeholders around the negotiation table last week.

High expectations

However, despite dramatic late-night negotiations, the talks yielded little for farmers. Most saw the outcome as merely tinkering around the edges.

If being truthful, most around the negotiation table always knew that the demands/expectations of the farmers on the gates were never going to be met.

Despite dramatic late-night negotiations, the talks yielded little for farmers

Whether these expectations we set too high by the leadership of the Beef Plan Movement, who appear to have marched farmers to the top of the hill and then disappeared off the pitch, is something that needs to be discussed, but at a later stage.

For now the focus should be on where to from here. There is no doubt that even the most trenchant farmers remaining at the gates of beef factories want to reach some kind of resolution.

Scars

While the heavy-handed legal approach may solve a short-term problem for processors, the scars will be long-lasting.

As a farmer, no matter what side of the fence you sit on regarding the legitimacy of the recent protests, a scenario where factories move to jail fellow farmers won’t sit easy.

Is there another way to get a solution to the stand-off? Calling for Minister Creed to reconvene another meeting will achieve a similar result to before – more talking and little action. Is it perhaps time for farmers to look beyond the Minister and indeed the meat processing sector?

Should attention now focus on the real power houses in the industry – the retailers and large food service buyers?

It is the retailers and food service buyers who processors really fear

While many see the Minister as having the power over the processors, the reality is that this is where the real power lies. It is the retailers and food service buyers who processors really fear.

Is it time for farmers to stand down from the gates of the factories and instead focus on these key power players?

There is no doubt the retailers and large food service buyers are already nervous that they will become the centre of attention.

To date, factories have laid the blame for poor prices and the imposition of what farmers see as trade distorting carcass specifications firmly at their doorstep. Yet they have received little in the way of challenge.

Specification

This needs to change with each retailer and food service buyer asked to detail to farmers what type of carcase specification they require and where necessary, provide the consumer information to support these demands.

They should also be asked to outline the percentage price variation being paid for beef cuts at present compared to the year previous and how this has been reflected in the prices passed on to consumers.

Price collapse

Farmers deserve to know who is benefiting from the €250/head collapse in the farmgate price over the past year.

If such information is not forthcoming, then clearly farmers have the opportunity to apply similar pressure to retailers as they have applied to beef processors in recent weeks.

While the Irish retail and food service market is of course a small subset of the market outlets for Irish beef, many of the same players in the Irish retailer and food service market have a large presence in the UK.

Therefore, any information on the Irish market would clearly give an insight into the demands of our main export market.

Public opinion

Meanwhile, there is no doubt that beef processors feel they have gained the upper hand on farmers through the court system. However, while the legal system may not be on the side of farmers we should not underestimate the power of public opinion and how sensitive large retail and food service businesses are to this.

Retailers clamber to showcase to their consumers the deep relationship they have with their farmer suppliers

Every week, we see retailers clambering to showcase to their consumers the deep relationship they have with their farmer suppliers and hence the pictures of farmers draped over the fresh meat counters and on the packs of beef.

No doubt the same will be true at the upcoming National Ploughing Championships, where retailers will be clambering to show their support for the farming community.

It would certainly make this message more difficult to sell if farmers decided to show consumers how the farmers supplying the ABP/Aldi, Kepak/SuperValu, Dawn Meats/McDonalds and Liffey Meats/ Lidl partnerships are being dragged through the courts with the threat of jail sentences.