Struggles to make a profit?

that any profitable farm enterprise that replaces a loss-making one will always return more for society as a whole.

In fact, I’d wager that even replacing sucklers east of the Shannon with half the number of dairy cows would still leave the economy better off.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any published detailed analysis of what the economics would be if various changes to the beef sector played out.

That’s an indictment of not just the leadership in Teagasc, but the whole agriculture sector.

Isn’t it appalling that nobody has the guts to put the full picture in front of the farming community?

I suspect that if there was a big fall in suckler numbers in Leinster and Munster, the resulting scarcity of topquality cattle would make the remaining suckler farmers in the West more profitable.

But again we’ve no economic analysis to guide us on that.

Contrary to other comments on my previous analysis, I don’t think the beef sector is “doomed”.

Challenges

In the same way that beef farmers still have a role in the dairy-dominated farm sector of New Zealand, there will always be a demand for specialist Irish beef producers, regardless of the challenges posed by veganism, dairying or climate change.

That’s because our suckler farmers produce some of the most environmentally friendly beef in the world.

Their animals produce a meat that cannot be substituted by anything from the dairy herd or a test tube.

I also know how important beef farming is to some farmers.

It’s not just part of their farm — it’s part of who they are, and their culture.

Nobody wants to take that away from anybody. But that doesn’t mean that beef farmer has a right to subsidies to stay in business.

A far better scenario is one where a farmer can choose to run a beef enterprise if they want to because they can make a profit from it.

Throwing more subsidies at it will only push that goal further away.

Blaming dairying for the lack of profitability in beef is a bogus ploy.

Churning out reports that offer only half of the economic story is disingenuous.

If these facts could be accepted, I’ll happily grow lettuce all day long.

THE REAL ISSUE IS WHY CAN’T THE BEEF BARONS PAY SUCKLER MEN ENOUGH TO COVER THE PRODUCTION OF SPECIALISED BEEF STOCK?