I can assure the Deputy that I am fully aware of the difficulties currently being experienced by beef farmers throughout the country. I am committed to working with farmers and industry to both deal with the current difficulties, and ensure we have the right measures in place to aid producers achieve better margins on their farms. While of course I cannot influence prices or commercial interactions between buyers and sellers, I have been actively engaging with the sector with the aim of mitigating the impact of the drop in prices from the highs experienced last year.
This year alone, I have brought forward a number of initiatives to help the sector, including the creation of the Beef Genomics Scheme with a budget of €23 million in 2014. I have also ensured that the budgets of the Beef Data Programme and the Beef Technology Adoption Programme are retained at €10 million and €5 million which, when added to residual payments under the Suckler Cow Welfare Scheme, amounts to an investment of €40m in 2014.
I also plan to build on these schemes through the provision for a Beef Data and Genomics Programme in the Rural Development Plan submitted to the EU Commission in July of this year. The Bovine Data and Genomics Programme is intended to deliver an accelerated improvement in the quality and environmental sustainability of the beef herd through the application of genomics technology. This will help farmers to maximise productivity in a sustainable way, while supporting improved quality and traceability in the national suckler herd. It will provide €295 million to suckler beef farmers over its 6 year duration, adding €80 for every animal for which the required actions are undertaken. I must emphasise of course that this scheme remains a proposal pending discussions with the European Commission on the finalisation of the RDP.
This is just one of a series of measures in the €4 billion Rural Development Programme which are focussed on the beef sector. It will also benefit from large scale State and EU investment in a substantial new agri-environment/climate scheme (GLAS), some €195 million per year for disadvantaged areas (now known as Areas of Natural Constraint) and a progressive new Knowledge Transfer measure. It should also be remembered that this is in addition to the €1.2 billion secured for direct payments each year.
My role in relation to the beef sector is to create a policy and support environment that will allow it to flourish in line with normal market principles. As I have stated before, I do not believe a Beef Regulator is appropriate. As the Deputy will appreciate, questions of price are ultimately matters to be determined between the purchasers and the sellers of cattle. It is neither appropriate nor possible for me or any other Minister for Agriculture in the EU, to intervene directly on these issues. Cattle prices are determined by supply/demand dynamics which are in turn influenced by the seasonality of production, the length of the production lifecycle and market conditions such as retail promotions, consumer confidence, competition with other meats and the overall macroeconomic situation.
It is, of course, important that farmers are sufficiently remunerated for producing quality animals. Beef producers must be provided with appropriate production incentives that are reflective of market demands and are communicated to producers in a clear and timely manner. I will continue to engage with both farmers and processors to ensure that the market operates in a fair and transparent manner. As the Deputy is aware, I established a Beef Roundtable earlier this year to facilitate such discussions between the parties. One of the key outcomes arising from this Roundtable involves better and more timely communication between processors and producers aimed at transmitting early and clearer market signals which bring about more strategically planned sectoral responses. Another key outcome has been my announcement of a public consultation regarding possible establishment of producer organisations in the beef sector. This public consultation has now closed and my Department are currently assessing the responses before deciding on next steps. Producer organisations can play a key role in conveying contractual negotiation powers on groups of farmers which can help to address imbalances in the supply chain.
I should also point out that there is an array of information already available on the prices paid in Ireland and elsewhere. My Department collates the prices paid for domestic cattle on a weekly basis and reports this data to the European Commission in accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1249/2008 and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 148/2014. To ensure price transparency, results for Members States are published on the DG Agriculture & Rural Development website. The published weekly data includes market prices for carcases and live animals as well as information on production and herd inventories. This publicly accessible information allows stakeholders to monitor the evolution of the market situation in each Member State.
There is also a wealth of information available to farmers under the Beef PriceWatch section on my Department’s website, including the prices for Steers, Cows, and Heifers across the classification grid, for each DAFM approved factory. I have also committed to making this existing information even more user-friendly and my Department is currently working on developing a Beef PriceWatch app which will be released shortly.
