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IFA president Joe Healy has clarified the IFA’s position on the 30-month rule after IFA treasurer and presidency candidate Tim Cullinan said the livestock committee needed to “change its policy of defending the 30-months age limit”.
Healy said both national council and the livestock committee made it clear if an agreed in-depth review showed certain specifications were not justified, then they should be removed.
The review was agreed by stakeholders at the first round of beef talks and will examine market and customer criteria in relation to the four in-spec bonus criteria.
The IFA said this position was accepted by all farmer representatives on the night because the full consequences for cattle prices and market access of removing or adjusting any specifications needed to be understood.
In-spec bonus
Criteria for the 12c/kg in-spec bonus are membership of the quality assurance (QA) scheme, along with animals under 30 months of age, maximum four farm residencies, 70-day residency prior to slaughter, grades of O= or better, and between 2+ and 4= fat score.
Healy said that throughout the beef crisis, farmers had been fed a huge amount of false and misleading information.
This, he said, raised completely unrealistic expectations.
Healy added that there had been "a lot of talk about leadership during the crisis and that leadership was more than just telling people what they wanted to hear".
BSE
In justifying the specifications, factories stated that they were demanded by some other countries and by some retailers, particularly in the UK.
Their position was supported by Bord Bia and the Department of Agriculture.
The IFA said the 30-month rule had its origins in the BSE crisis.
It added that while time had moved on and there was no longer any veterinary basis for the rule, some countries and UK retailers retained it as a requirement.
On the quality assurance bonus, Healy said: “The IFA position has always been that all prime cattle from Quality Assured herds should receive a QA bonus, with no other additional specification or criteria, such as the 30 months age limit.”
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