The beef stakeholder forum, formed to find a resolution to recent issues in the beef trade, reconvened on Tuesday. The main topic on the agenda was a review of the Beef Activation Group Report from 2011 and in particular its implementation.

Michael Dowling, chairman of the Beef Activation Group, was given the task in the inaugural stakeholders meeting on 17 April of reviewing the reports implementation and identifying areas requiring change.

Dowling, along with assistance from Brendan Gleeson, Department of Agriculture and Food, identified and presented the following recommendations in Tuesday’s meeting.

1. The report called for the Quality Payments System (QPS) to be informed by the following principles:

2. Producers and processors should work towards a greater proportion of supply on a contractual basis, especially, but not only, for the winter and spring period.

3. A bonus system might be adjusted to take account of seasonal factors, including the additional costs of finishing cattle over the winter and spring months.

4. Farmers should only rear young bulls where they have a clear contract. According to the report, Bord Bia, with industry, should intensify efforts to identify markets for bulls slaughtered at 18 to 19 months.

5. Teagasc, Bord Bia, ICBF, AHI and the universities should coordinate to ensure that research and advisory strategies effectively reflect market realities.

6. Progress made through a number of breeding initiatives, particularly genomics, must be built on and intensified. This needs to be strongly supported by industry, with Bord Bia exploring any market advantage to be obtained through these initiatives.

7. Communication must be consistent and timely. Farmers should receive coherent advice on breeding, husbandry and farm management which is consistent with market realities. The messaging from bodies such as Teagasc, ICBF, AHI and Bord Bia is consistent, coherent and current.

Processors should commit to better and more regular communications with suppliers on market requirements and developments. This should include regular information on individual slaughter data, including information on factors which prevent maximum value being obtained for the animal in question.

8. Bord Bia should consider whether its market analysis service could be expanded. The Meat Industry Ireland (MII), farmer representatives, Bord Bia and DAFM should work together to devise comparators that would allow for an agreed system of benchmarking Irish beef prices against those in other countries.

The report noted that one of the greatest causes of distrust between farmers and processors is the apparent difference in price particularly between Britain and Ireland. It stated that comparing an R3 carcase price in both markets is not a fair comparison due to one market being a surplus market and the other being a deficit market.

The level of access to the premium retail market in the UK is not the same for both sides. According to the report, Irish produce sold in cuts has to service a whole range of differently priced markets and there may be some national preference at play.

9. At farm level, maximising grass utilisation should be possible through higher stocking rates, with an increased number of animals being brought to slaughter at earlier ages and lighter weights. Pressure should be brought on financial institutions to advance credit for herd expansion or conversion to different cow types.

10. The retention of PIs on some farms has the potential to delay the eradication of BVD. Some incentive needs to be put in place to deal with this problem.

11. Government efforts to open new markets, including China and the US, for Irish beef should continue.

12. In relation to trade policy, every effort should be made to ensure that any offers on beef in the MERCOSUR and TTIP negotiations are framed in such a way that extra quantities are spread across the range of cuts in line with normal market requirements and are not open to being supplied only with high-quality cuts.

The report also noted that live exports will continue to be an option as a means of satisfying legitimate market demands for live animals, supplying alternative market outlets for some farmers and providing a balancing factor in the market.

In relation to Irish-born and British-finished cattle, the report stated that there is little hope of the position on this being changed in the near future.

As regards “nomads” in Northern Ireland (NI), the specific problem related to cattle being exported to NI for eventual slaughter, this issue has been taken up at a political level and we must await the outcome of this process.

To date, the beef forum has failed beef farmers. Since the first meeting in April, nothing measurable has been said or done to save the suckler herd, which is the keystone of our beef sector. Nothing has come out of the process to give a farmer the confidence to go ahead and fill his or her shed with cattle again ahead of the next winter finishing period.

A recommendation of the provision of contracts doesn’t say that additional contracts will be offered to farmers. The same goes for a recommendation of a winter finishing bonus and all of the recommendations made above.

The majority of recommendations are long-term ones; short-term issues need to addressed by Minister Coveney to give farmers confidence.

Where is the economic analysis from Teagasc and Bord Bia of what a 380kg weight limit would inflict on suckler beef production in terms of income, numbers and output? Where is the market analysis from Bord Bia to show how much more beef we would sell to retailers and how much prices would increase if Ireland was to produce more beef up to 380kg? How can recommendations be made without this analysis?