ICSA suckler chairman Brendan McLaughlin has said that the current pressure on beef prices from factories will result in many suckler farmers going out of business. "This pressure reflects on the entire industry with poor prices being paid for weanlings as beef finishers are not getting a fair price in factories. Suckler farmers cannot afford [...]
Irish minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Brendan Smith has announced a fresh cash injection into the Irish cattle and sheep breeding sector worth €1.08m. Around €880,000 will be invested into the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) and an additional €200,000 will be pumped into Sheep Ireland, which is a newly established association linked with [...]
Average farm income dropped by 13.7% in 2008 as input costs rose by the same figure. It is feared they will drop another 10% this year. Teagasc National Farm Survey head Liam Connolly said 'incomes could drop by over 10% again this year, that more farmers would have to reappraise their involvement in the business [...]
ICSA Munster vice president Edmond Phelan has reacted to the Competition Authority report on the retail sector by saying that farmers are not to blame for price differentials between Ireland and the United Kingdom. “When you see farmers being paid 20c/litre for milk and receiving just over €3.00/kg for beef and €3.80/kg for lamb,
ICSA president Malcolm Thompson has reacted with dismay to government plans to make €68m available to processors to upgrade their facilities. “I have no objection to processors getting grants when monies are available, but a string of budget cuts on farmer schemes suggests that this cannot be afforded at present. Surely the government should have [...]
Following a meeting with Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith, the IFA Deputy President Derek Deane said the commitment given to him by the Minister Smith to provide real competition in the area of animal collection must be delivered on immediately. It is unjustifiable for farmers to be charged more to haul fallen animals than the [...]
If only our Government was able to control public spending like our meat processors control beef prices, then there would be no need for last weeks emergency budget. In fact, we would probably be the envy of all the rest of the EU. As it stands we are not and our beef farmers are most [...]
An emergency meeting between farming representatives and factory owners will take place tomorrow to discuss the crisis facing the Irish beef trade. The meeting comes after farmer protests outside meat plants last week, Factory owners described the protests as "misguided and unhelpful". Farmers have suspended protests until tomorrow's meeting, it has not ruled out a [...]
Fertiliser margins demanded by the trade this season are not sustainable and it is clear that a cartel is operating to maintain artificially high prices. Fertiliser is the second biggest expenditure on most livestock farms after feed, and in the case of tillage farms it accounts for over 33% of production costs. Irish farmers are [...]
IFA National Livestock Committee Chairman Michael Doran said winter finishers are furious with the factories over the way they have attempted to manipulate a pull in quoted beef prices. He said there is no basis or market justification whatsoever for any change in prices. Michael Doran said cattle finishers were strongly resisting the negative price [...]
