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In 2017, 1.67m beef cattle which went through meat factories and abattoirs in Ireland were from farms in the Bord Bia Sustainable Beef and Lamb Assurance Scheme SBLAS), Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has revealed.
In response to a parliamentary question from Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice, Minister Creed said that over 50,000 farmers are now taking part in the scheme.
Review of throughput
“My Department has carried out a review of cattle throughput at export meat plants and local abattoirs and this is the data currently available," said Minister Creed.
"Based on this review, SBLAS-member farms accounted for 1.55m cattle supplied for slaughter in 2016, representing 90.4% of the total national figure of 1.72m.
“In 2017, the share of cattle that came from SBLAS farms grew to 91.4%, or 1.67m out of a total of 1.83m slaughterings in total.
“The figures for 2018 are not yet available, but a further small increase is expected in the share coming from SBLAS farms,” he said.
Mr Fitzmaurice also asked the Minister for the number of tonnes of this beef which was deemed ineligible for the quality assurance payment.
Minister Creed said that the quality payment system (QPS) is a payment mechanism whereby a price is determined and paid by processors to farmer suppliers.
“As this is a commercial matter between processors and farmers, my Department has no role in its operation and does not consequently collect data on it,” he said.
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