“If you asked me straight out are beef farmers better off today than they were 12 months ago you would have to say no and we failed in that regard. However, I still think we raised the level of awareness of the income crisis that exists within the drystock sector,” Hugh Doyle told the Irish Farmers Journal.This week last year, Beef Plan members staged protests outside 18 different meat plants and reduced the number of animals slaughtered on a weekly basis by 50%. Many farmers spent night and day on the picket lines to man the protests.
“If you asked me straight out are beef farmers better off today than they were 12 months ago you would have to say no and we failed in that regard. However, I still think we raised the level of awareness of the income crisis that exists within the drystock sector,” Hugh Doyle told the Irish Farmers Journal.
This week last year, Beef Plan members staged protests outside 18 different meat plants and reduced the number of animals slaughtered on a weekly basis by 50%. Many farmers spent night and day on the picket lines to man the protests.
However, different factions within the organisation started to make decisions and the leadership effectively lost control of the organisation. This ended up in other organisations being formed and a deep split now exists between the original co-founders and some county chairs. This has effectively divided the Beef Plan Movement with both sections working independently of each other.
We need to sit down face to face and talk, and that’s the only answer
“Look, it’s unfortunate what happened. There has been a breakdown of trust on all sides and I’m not too sure that the people involved now can ever trust each other again. We may need to look at bringing in a new team of officers altogether to start off in the new again.
“The will is still there from farmers on the ground to work at this movement and everybody is still extremely passionate about beef farming and improving farmers’ incomes. Farmers were crying out for a new voice and we will continue to be that voice,” Doyle said.
Speaking on the future of the organisation, Doyle said that COVID-19 has delayed talks and that the movement will have to wait until restrictions ease to hammer out their differences.
“You won’t solve our issues over a [video] call. We need to sit down face to face and talk, and that’s the only answer.”
Mistakes made
“Mistakes were made by everybody but we have to move on from that,” Doyle commented.
“We are very close to starting mediation, both sides' solicitors have agreed on a mediator who is a senior council and we are hopeful we can all sit down around a table in the coming weeks. It’s going to cost a lot of money but we need to do it right,” he said.
We still have no transparency in the sector
Speaking on what he would do differently Doyle said: “A set of rules of governance should have been drawn up before we started, but hindsight is 20:20 vision. It was always going to be a battle to get rules signed off once issues arose.”
Doyle added: “We still have no transparency in the sector. I still have issues in the way Bord Bia are marketing our product. We’re not doing enough to link our beef to a positive environmental message.
“I think a great idea would be to label farms based on their carbon footprint audit, green for most carbon-friendly, orange for average performance and red for poorer-performing farms. I think there’s more money out there in the market for an environmentally friendly product.”
For more on looking back on the Beef Plan Movement protests check out our two-page special in this week’s Irish Farmers Journal
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