PGI disharmony sees taskforce meeting shelved

Farm organisations have said a lack of consensus around the current PGI status application for Irish grass-fed beef has resulted in the cancellation of the latest meeting of the Beef Market Taskforce, which had been scheduled to take place on Monday.

Bilateral meetings were held with all farm organisations on Friday in an aim to find consensus on the key issues in preparation for the meeting, IFA national livestock chair Brendan Golden told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Golden said: “Many issues remain unresolved, such as PGI ownership and the exclusion of bulls. I’d rather see we push ahead and allow for these disagreements to be resolved later down the line. Time is running out with Brexit looming.”

IFA president Tim Cullinan said the grass-fed PGI must be controlled by farmers and not factories.

“We were disappointed the meeting was called off as we want to move the process onto a conclusion.

“We have had enough of the tail wagging the dog. A suckler brand must be developed to complement the grass-fed PGI and led by farmers who can direct Bord Bia, rather than the other way around.”

Unresolved matters

Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) president Colm O’Donnell said the meeting had been cancelled late Friday evening with a lack of clarity from the Department surrounding the circumstances.

O’Donnell has warned that in order to preserve the integrity of the Beef Market Taskforce agreement, a concrete suckler brand proposal must be made with the full backing of all members.

Similarly, ICSA president Edmond Phelan raised issues around the exclusion of bulls, which he believes would have a greater impact on the suckler herd than that experienced by dairy farmers.

“A key issue that remains unresolved is who will own the PGI and oversee it when it’s put in place. Farmers must control the brand, a board separate to the beef taskforce must be established with this duty,” Phelan said.

EU level

ICMSA president Pat McCormack told the Irish Farmers Journal that his organisation is extremely disappointed by the cancellation of the taskforce meeting.

“Brexit is fast approaching. All organisations need to take the leap of faith at this stage and get the PGI over to EU level. With 56% of our beef destined for the UK market, it is vital we seize these opportunities.

"There’s no saying once we get it to EU level it will go through, and the greater the disagreement we have at producer level the less the chance we will have of obtaining the PGI.”

McCormack also said he felt other organisations had greater interest in excluding dairy beef from the PGI than getting suckler progeny included.

“Why doesn’t the opposition make their own PGI if the conditions of this application don’t match their expectation. It’s easy to shout stop the bus and not provide alternatives. Nothing was ever achieved standing still.”

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