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Following an investigation by the Irish Farmers Journal, it is estimated that farmers receive just over half the value that is secured for the beef animal once it enters the factory.
The farmer’s share of the end beef price has been strongly disputed during the recent farmer protests at beef factories, ranging from the Beef Plan Movement’s claim that farmers receive just 20% of the value to Meat Industry Ireland’s claim that farmers got 63% of the value.
The Irish Farmers Journal used data on yield of beef cuts from cutting up a beef carcase with Bord Bia and applied the retail values presented by Bord Bia to recent beef industry meetings.
To get the full value secured by the factories, it is necessary to include the hide and offal and as these are not available from Irish factories, data on offal value produced by USDA is used to make an estimate for offal value in addition to retail values.
When an estimate for offal value is added to the value recovered from the retail sales of beef, the Irish Farmers Journal estimates that the total value is €6.86/kg.
When this is applied to the average R3 farmgate price of €3.62/kg including VAT for the week ending 18 August, the farmer’s share comes out at 53% of the total value realised for the animal.
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