The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) won’t sign up to the Food Vision beef group’s report as it stands, the farm organisation’s livestock chair Brendan Golden has warned.

According to Golden, the draft report contains no plans to develop a suckler and beef sector in Ireland that is viable.

“This report is all about cutting production and further reducing the number of suckler cows in Ireland, which is already falling,” he said.

The IFA livestock chair made his comments following a meeting of the Food Vision beef group on Friday.

The Irish Farmers Journal has also revealed that the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) has walked from the beef group over similar concerns to those of the IFA.

The beef group has been tasked with coming up with proposals to reduce emissions from the beef herd. Its draft report, which was presented to Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue, suggests proposals such as destocking and earlier slaughter ages. A finalised report is expected by the end of this month.

Carbon footprint

Golden said the “report will increase global emissions, because it will result in more beef being produced in countries with a higher carbon footprint for beef production”.

“In a week where the global population exceeded eight billion people, we are trying to reduce food production in one of the countries in the world which is fortunate enough have ideal conditions for producing.

“The suckler and beef sector supports thousands of jobs in rural Ireland and contributes hugely to the social fabric of towns and villages all over the country,” he said.

The beef farmer said there has been no impact assessment to quantify the negative consequences of the group’s plan and that there is no indication of the funding that would be made available to support it.

“[The] IFA has sought a meeting with the Minister for Agriculture about the draft report. [The] IFA will not be signing up to this report as stands. It’s time for the Minister to get on the pitch and to come clean about what his plans for the sector are,” he said.

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INHFA pulls out of Food Vision group