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may not agree, but I feel Irish farmers are long overdue an explanation from both the millers and our Government as to why such a critically important decision was taken, and why farmers as the principal stakeholders were never consulted.
Our politicians and leaders of industry would do well to realise that our unique ‘green’ image, which is a priceless competitive advantage, must be jealously protected.
I believe that it would be extremely naive of us to think that there are not competing international interests ready and waiting to use the ‘GM’ issue to damage our marketing advantage.
Unfortunately, the reality of beef farming in Ireland is that if our EU income supports were withdrawn in the morning we would need something like a doubling of the price we receive for our cattle to enable beef farming to survive.
The average price I got for my cattle in 2016 was just 12c/ kg more than the price I got for Friesian cattle in 1989. However, when we allow for inflation (78pc) I should now be getting about €6 per kilo for my Friesian cattle in order to equal the price I got over 27 years ago.
I realise that there are many people involved in politics and our advisory services working very hard on strategies to secure the future of beef producers in Ireland.
However, with respect to these people, most commercial farmers know from bitter experience that encouraging us to invest heavily in increased production can be totally counter-productive and result in an over-supply situation which invariably reduces cattle prices.
Leadership
Decades of lobbying by farming representatives hasn’t proved successful either, so it appears highly unlikely in the short to medium term that we can look forward to any meaningful rise in prices.
So what can be done to save our industry?
Irish beef farming is in serious need of strong visionary and proactive leadership; we know that we produce some of the best food in the world, so there is no reason why our food can’t command a premium price in the EU and indeed the global marketplace.
In the US, for instance, there is a growing premium market for beef which has been fed solely on grass, with no grain whatsoever in their diet.
With our unique climate advantage and the ability of much of our farmland to finish cattle on grass alone, I believe that this is a premium market which we could readily supply at very little extra cost or alterations to our production system.
Unfortunately, it is now a number of years since our then Minister for Agriculture, with much razzmatazz, announced the opening up of this US market.
I know silence is golden but perhaps someone would be kind enough to tell Irish cattle farmers what has happened since then – where is the beef ?
The time is well overdue for people in positions of responsibility to realise that you cannot build a sustainable industry on political hype and a succession of publicity stunts and initiatives.
No one knows this better than Irish beef farmers.