IFA MEET FRENCH MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE ON SHEEP WTO
IFA National Sheep Committee Chairman Henry Burns met the French Minister for Agriculture Mr Barnier in Paris together with Mr Liam Aylward MEP and a delegation of French Sheep Industry representatives.
Mr Burns said he was very encouraged by the positive approach of Mr Barnier towards the sheep sector and his willingness to drive forward on the key issues identified in the latest EU report on sheepmeat.
Henry Burns said Mr Barnier was extremely strong in his opposition to the Mandelson WTO proposal saying, "no deal is better than a bad deal."
In conjunction with Liam Aylward MEP, the IFA Sheep Chairman presented a detailed set of proposals on the sheep sector to Minister Barnier.
These proposals included increased promotional funding for sheepmeat, EU labelling and branding, opposition to any increase in EU sheepmeat imports under WTO and increased direct supports for sheep. The French Minister told Henry Burns he will organise a major sheep conference involving all of the main EU sheep producing countries and their Ministers in France in early September.
Kelvin Pate | Apr 23, 2008 | Reply
Over in Scotland there is a large number of hill ewes and low ground ewes disappearing the later because the land is being cultivated but in the upland farms stocking rates are being reduced .
If the result of the WTO , opening up EU food markets to the world in return for opening up services market etc
With food becoming more expensive in the EU it looks attractive to import food from outside Europe at cheaper prices . For the consumer this must on the surface look a good thing in the short term .
But in the medium term what are the implications .
Beef production with suckler cows would disappear , with present costs of production if the price doesn’t continue to rise for beef then beef cows will disappear from UK and Ireland. Large suckler herds are already being dispersed in Scotland.
The same could be argued for the sheep sector which is just getting back to normal and many people are looking carefully at market trends reassessing its future on their farm due to increased costs (Feed fuel fert etc) and the increase in bureaucracy in the pipe line .
The same applies to the dairy sector although you can’t fly milk round the world .
By suddenly changing the rules of supply Peter Mandelson is creating something which might accelerate the whole process – uncertainty . Farmers are trying to plan a future within the rules that the EU sets .
To me it seam’s ludicrous that we have a safe food chain in EU and at a time when world population is expected to increase by 50% by 2050 we are looking at decimating parts of EU agriculture, thus tightening world supply and making food more expensive in the medium term . Too expensive for the Third World to afford ?
As importantly , the decimation of processing and the infrastructure of the supply chain will never be rebuilt if it goes, neither will the animals and the skills that are on our farms.
Do we really want to annihilate our food industry so that some number crunchers can make more money ?
Kelvin Pate
AIkeyside Farm
East Lothian
Scotland
(NFUS livestock Chairman)
CHADLI Ali | Jul 21, 2008 | Reply
Hello,
i live in France and i am intrested to buy irish sheep. 500 to 1000 units. Can give me information about irish farmers or selers,please.
thank you in advance for any information.
my number is 0033 6 19 92 26 80.