It is just over a year since the first round table was convened by Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney to address the issues in the beef sector. It was held against a backdrop of farmer protests outside factory gates over cattle prices and carcase specifications. While there can be no disputing that the mood music has improved, delegates at the round table can take little in the way of credit. The reality is that little has changed.

It could be argued that we now have less transparency and competition than when farmers were outside the factory gates a year ago. Over the past 12 months, British beef price has increased by the equivalent of 70c/kg while the Irish price today is just 10-15c/kg ahead of last year. The result is that we now have a British-Irish price differential of €1.10/kg compared to a 70c/kg differential last autumn.

Meanwhile, we see factories keen to reignite their phoney war on specifications. Few can argue against the need for specifications, regardless of the product being produced. In the case of beef, as we try to push up the premium chain, the need to produce to a specification is only going to intensify.

However, farmers have shown time and time again that they can produce to some of the most exacting specs. We only have to think back to under 12-month bulls and heifers. Farmers responded immediately. Why? Because the market passed back a premium which made the production system viable.

In many ways, specifications should not even enter the debate at the round table. It is an area where processors are keen to do combat, but only to take away from the more relevant area of price. Take carcase weight limits and age limits of young bulls as examples – producing carcases to a lower weight limit is not a problem at farm level, nor is producing young bulls under 16 months. The problem is the inability of the processor to pass back a price that makes these production systems viable.

Take this simple example: a 350kg carcase in the UK today is worth the equivalent of €1,830, yet for an Irish farmer to generate the same level of price from a production system where the sunk cost is largely the same requires a carcase weight of 450kg.

This is why lower carcase weight limits are such an issue for Irish farmers. Farmers will produce to the specifications required – if rewarded for doing so.

Keeping with the theme of increasing transparency, the Department of Agriculture committed last year to put in more robust measures around carcase trim and grading. Has the level of farmer transparency around this issue increased? No. The necessary transparency in this area will only be delivered when a list of factories inspected is produced each week along with compliance levels. If the systems are robust, no one can object to such information being made publicly available.

Ultimately, the really thorny issue at the round table is that of increased competition. Commitments to address beef labelling issues blocking the live trade to Northern Ireland and ultimately Britain have not materialised – perhaps an indication as to the complexity of the challenge.

Labelling has been used to effectively close down the British market and allow the processing/retail sector divide what should be one market into three trading entities. It is time this area got the political focus that it deserves.

The minister must exhaust all political and diplomatic channels to remove what is clearly a barrier to free trade. It is not in the interests of British or Irish farmers to have a €1/kg differential. The British farmer has nothing to fear from Irish imports. But cheap Irish imports are a problem for farmers on both sides of the Irish Sea.

The round table is due to reconvene before Christmas. It’s time to stop going in circles and tackle the real issues.