Beef industry crisis
Senator Lombard described a severe crisis in the beef sector, with collapsing calf prices and wider market problems, and called for joined-up thinking. The Cathaoirleach recalled an old farming story, and Lombard said the situation today is equally bad.
I have been raising issues in the beef industry in this House over the past few months. We are in a crisis and there are serious issues with cattle being killed and deflated prices which have knock-on effects, particularly in marts. I was in a mart yesterday where nearly 1,800 calves went through, some of which were sold for less than 50 cent, when they were making €110 last year. There is a particular issue with bull Friesian calves.
There is a need for some joined-up thinking on the matter. There are ferry departure times and 14 or 15 independent exporters. In many ways, we need to ensure they will work together as one unit. An exporters' association needs to be put in place, particularly for those involved in the beef calf trade, to enable exporters to work together with the ferry companies and with one another to ensure we can get the product to the marketplace in France where there is a significant demand for veal and calves. While there is an issue with lairage, if exporters can work together, we can sort out these issues. There are 14 or 15 independent operators and the knock-on effect is that they will continue to make their profit margin. There is no exporter not making money. God only knows what money they are making. The only person being squeezed in this scenario is the dairy or beef farmer. Last year dairy calves were costing anything between €60 and €110. Yesterday 380 dairy bull calves were sold for less than 50 cent. This is the stuff of 1960. It is bizarre that we have such an issue nowadays. We need the exporters to work together. It suits them to have a state of flux in the industry because the more chaos there is in it, the more money they can make. We need the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to engage and ensure an exporters' association will be put in place. If that was to happen, we could ensure we would move forward in the live trade and getting the vast number of Friesian bull calves off the island.
Comment on this
While I do not intend to take from the merits of the Senator's contribution, I am reminded of a story from the area of west Cork in which I live. In the early 1970s a farmer went to the market with two calves, but they were so bad he returned with six and without having sold them.