Beef prices for farmers
Senator Mulherin raised the serious plight of small beef farmers facing low factory prices and a cattle glut. She asked for a debate and urged the Minister to pressure factories she said were acting in concert.
I raise the serious plight and situation small beef farmers find themselves in. Two factories are selling beef below the cost of production and things are getting worse. There is a glut of cattle in the market, which could be down, in part, to some of the dairy herd being sold for meat. Last week alone there was a record approximately 40,000 animals slaughtered and yet compared to this time last year, beef is down approximately 30 cent per kilo. This time last year a farmer was getting €4.05 per kilo but now it is €3.75 per kilo.
Farmers facing into Christmas would be hoping for a boost but this has not materialised. We all welcome that in the budget the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine recognised the pressure the suckler cow farmer is under and the pressure on beef production and introduced the beef environmental efficiency pilot scheme, giving it €20 million along with providing €23 million to the areas of natural constraint, ANC, scheme, which all helps these small farmers.
However, they are in a bind. Teagasc figures show that it costs €800 to keep a suckler cow for the year and yet some farmers are only getting €700 for a weanling at the factory. There is a serious problem here-----
Comment on this
Yes, I am. Some of these farmers will go to the wall. I ask for the Minister to come in here to have a debate on the matter. I know it is not within his gift to decide on the prices the factories pay to farmers but it has all the appearances of a concerted practice when practically every factory in the country is offering the same price per kilo. The Minister needs to put pressure on these factories because he is out there winning markets abroad for them. We sell food into 180 markets. Much work is carried out by the Minister, his officials and Bord Bia to win these markets and if these farmers go, there will be no beef production system whatsoever. Something has to be done.
I highlight the fact that the beef forum, as it stands, is up in the air. This provides an opportunity for the Minister to sit around the table with the farming organisations and the meat factories to sort out these issues. We urgently need the Minister to come into the House because this is moving in totally the wrong direction for these farmers. It is not sustainable that anybody would keep selling below the cost of production and remain in business.