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The next meeting of the Beef Market Taskforce on 9 January has a packed agenda.
It was agreed that both Irish and UK retailers be invited to the next meeting following a series of protests at distribution centres.
Musgraves and Tesco have publicly confirmed their attendance, while it is expected that Lidl and Aldi will also be at the meeting.
The Department of Agriculture said it expects independent studies on market and customer requirements relating to the in-spec bonus criteria to be commissioned by the end of 2019.
Delay
It had proposed the invitation of retailers be delayed until after those studies were completed, but farm organisations disagreed.
Also on the agenda will be a review of the grid by Teagasc.
The first stage, an analysis of the pricing structure on the basis of meat yield/conformation, has been completed and will be presented in detail in January.
The taskforce will hear from Department experts in the area of carcase classification.
A detailed discussion will take place on the appeals system for carcase classification and the expert review of grading machines.
With €40m extra allocated to the beef sector in 2020, the Department has requested written submissions from the taskforce participants on how the funds should be allocated.
In the minutes of the last meeting, it was noted that independent chair Michael Dowling outlined the Taskforce’s view that no farmer who participated in recent protests should be discriminated against.
Meat Industry Ireland rejected claims of discrimination, but undertook to bring the claim to the attention of factories.
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