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The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has called the proposed European Commission supports “inadequate”, while the ICMSA said they “border on insult”.
The European Commission is set to offer private storage aid (PSA) for 330,000t of dairy products and 45m cuts of beef and lamb.
IFA president Tim Cullinan said he was concerned that the Commission was taking the food chain for granted.
A quick sum indicates that the support package is equivalent to €8 per farmer in the EU
“We believe the increased cost of storage for beef and dairy product has not been adequately taken into account in this scheme,” he added.
“We need our Agriculture Minister to push for a significant increase in the Commission allocation.”
€8/EU farmer
ICMSA president Pat McCormack said the funding was not enough to address the seismic shock that was being experienced by EU farmers.
“A quick sum indicates that the support package is equivalent to €8 per farmer in the EU at a time when food markets and prices are experiencing an unprecedented shock, the food services sector has collapsed and we’re about to enter our peak production period for milk,” McCormack said.
“This will be interpreted as an insult and the Commission and the member states had better look up their definition of ‘essential’ and come back with a package that indicates that they understand what’s needed and that it’s needed right now.”
Meat Industry Ireland
A spokesperson for Meat Industry Ireland (MII) said that while it was important that the Commission was now engaging on support that they were concerned that based on initial information proposed measures fell short.
They said that more was needed to address the market imbalance “particularly for beef”.
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