Length of farm audit is QA sticking point

Negotiations on a revised Beef and Lamb Quality Assurance Scheme (QA) are at an impasse, with disagreement centred on the length of farm audits.

Key issues have been agreed at recent meetings of the technical committee:

In recent days, the main farm organisations attended demonstration audits under a revised specification on cattle and sheep farms in Co Kilkenny. But sticking points remain.

One side of the technical committee wishes to make sustainability a formal part of the scheme and audit. The proposal is backed by Bord Bia, Food Safety Authority of Ireland, the Department of Agriculture and meat processors. But the IFA has warned that this cannot add to the length of the on-farm audit. It wants the audit simplified and shortened.

Farmers are asked to provide information which they provided in previous audits, IFA livestock chair Angus Woods says. Farmers should be sent a pre-printed form in advance to check over and amend, he says.

Over 48,000 cattle and sheep farmers participate in the Beef and Lamb Quality Assurance Scheme. Participants are audited every 18 months and the failure rate is 5% to 5.5%. Certified farms produce 93% of Irish beef and 65% of all lamb.

Farmer views

“I’m very concerned at the direction that the scheme has taken,” says Carlow farmer and former IFA deputy president Derek Deane. “I was on the Quality Assurance Board of Bord Bia when it was brought in. It was initially about animal welfare, husbandry and farm management. Now, it’s all about records. Every single detail has to be documented – but they don’t care if the calf is dead or alive.”

He said: “Initially the audit was five minutes, then it became 30 minutes but now it takes hours.”

Beef farmers cannot be thrown off the register for six months after an audit finds minor issues, says Waterford beef produce Edmund Phelan. He is chair of the ICSA’s beef committee. “They must be given an opportunity to correct problems.”

“Also, if a farm is quality assured, then all cattle sold off that farm should qualify for a QA bonus, irrespective of what grade they are.”

“A close-out period is needed,” said cattle farmer Pat Farrell who farms on the Laois/Kildare border. “It should be at least 30 days.”

It’s not acceptable that farmers would be excluded from the register for minor breaches. “The bonus of 12c/kg is about 3% of price. A lot of farmers are only breaking even so that 3% is important.”