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As I entered a reception over the weekend, my generous host stopped me and said, out of the blue “we were in Canada recently looking at their beef industry”.
He developed the initial observation into a terrifying outline of how we had become so uncompetitive.
They were on a number of commercial farms and they were all using hormones – the normal ones that have been banned in Europe; as well as that, the use of Rumensin – a rumen digestion stimulant – was routine as was clenbuterol, the common name in Ireland for the substance “angel dust”. Tylan was also freely available and widely used.
The really core question is in what food production regime do we want to see European policy operate?
On my reckoning, that package of what might freely be called feed additives is worth a minimum of €250/carcase and probably much more especially where badly conformed Holstein steers are converted from P+ or O- to R+ carcases.
Beef is one of the products included in the EU/Canada deal, though admittedly, subject to farm and factory inspections.
Precisely the same considerations apply to the proposed Mercosur deal, which also has a large beef element included in it.
The identical principles apply on the tillage side where the debate on the medically accepted glyphosate (Roundup) is raging and where it seems some form of restriction is going to come into force and this follows, uniquely in Europe, the elimination of a large number of effective and useful plant protection products.
Russian superpower
Last week, the Irish Farmers Journal carried a remarkable account of the growth in grain output in Russia and the Black Sea region and made the point that this surge in output is responsible for the continuous pressure on EU and world grain prices.
I have no doubt that the conclusion is correct but I disagree fundamentally with the view that a lack of exporting railway and port infrastructure will halt any further expansion.
I don’t believe that – there will always be investors who will develop necessary infrastructure if future profits are visible so we should not live in a fool’s paradise.
The really core question is in what food production regime do we want to see European policy operate?
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