Science, not cuts, should be the road to emissions reduction

The extent of the proposed cut in cattle numbers proposed in the agreed Food Vision beef and sheep report took the meat factories by surprise when they read the extent in the final report submitted to the minister.

Chair of Meat Industry Ireland (MII), Philip Carroll, told the Irish Farmers Journal this week that “while we did see references to exit schemes, we initially didn’t have a sense that they be of such a scale that they would see such a large cut to production.”

When asked about how MII arrived at the numbers it has presented on the consequences , Philip Carroll explained that “the only information supplied by the department was modelling that was done on 100,000 cows under each of the two schemes.

“As it produced an emissions reduction level associated with removing 200,000 cows, we did our own internal analysis in MII and Ibec because we had nothing else to go on.”

This analysis shows that losing 200,000 cows would mean a 20% drop in beef output, and a loss of exports to the value of €700m annually.

It would also lead to factory closures, meaning direct and indirect job losses of 6,500.

An equivalent of some 14,500 farmers would leave the sector, leading to an €800m loss of economic activity in rural areas.

Carroll explained that they “asked the Department to do their own analysis before they published the report on a number of occasions and while they ignored us they don’t dispute the figures”.

If the beef processing industry lost this volume of cattle, Philip Carroll highlighted that it would mean the loss of five or more factories. As it is, he said there is “more than sufficient capacity to deal with the numbers we have at the moment,” and if the cattle numbers change, the knock-on effect on processing is inevitable.

He emphasised that this is simply a mathematical reality and that it would be premature to consider where any closures would take place in the absence of further details from the Department on the exit schemes.

The Irish Farmers Journal put it to Carroll that as an ever-increasing proportion of the carcase is used for mincing, did it really matter to factories where their cattle came from? He replied that “we don’t have any sense of the impact of reductions on the dairy herd overall…. But any reduction in breeding cows has to have a negative effect on supply of cattle for the beef sector.”

He emphasised a need for integration of dairy and beef with “better breeding programmes on the dairy side to match up with the market requirements for the beef product and everybody has known this for a long time”.

The Irish Farmers Journal also asked Carroll if the current payment structure should be reviewed.

He picked up on one element, the bonus introduced for cattle over 30 months in 2019 which he described as “completely incompatible with reducing the age of slaughter, is not the way forward and is almost an incoherent message to be giving out”.

He described the journey the industry has been on to reduce the age of slaughter which was 30 months back in 2010 and is now 26 months.

Carroll described this as “harvesting the low hanging fruit and that the industry continues to work towards reducing that age which has efficiency and cost gains for farmers and matches customer specifications.”

When it was put to him again about having a wider review, he said that the 30-month payment might get looked at for reallocation as age of slaughter was such a major issue in delivery of emissions.

However, that is likely to be “as far as we’re likely to go in terms of revisiting the classification model that we use for, for bonuses, at least for the time being,” though he did add that nothing was being ruled out.

Steer beef is our unique selling point and reflects our grass-based system

With age of slaughter being such a priority, the Irish Farmers Journal asked should factories not look again at beef from young bulls, especially as this is common in the European market and was making as much as steer beef at present.

Carroll was adamant that steer beef is our unique selling point and reflects our grass-based system.

He described bull beef opportunities as niches and that “our constant message to farmers is talk to your processor individually.”

Philip Carroll told the Irish Farmers Journal that MII would be publishing a report early in the new year detailing the work that has been done in recent years “around the whole sustainability piece, what people are doing to meet climate targets, to meet biodiversity targets, to meet water targets, all of that, and how we might into the future, look at measures aimed at driving sustainability”.

However, this is unlikely to extend into scope three emissions as beef factories deal with a small proportion of farmers and “don’t have the level of direct relationship as exists between dairy processors and their suppliers”.

On energy costs, Carroll told the Irish Farmers Journal that MII, as part of Ibec, has worked with Government for support to relieve the escalating energy burden on industry.

Collective response

However, there isn’t a collective response but individual members are taking initiatives to minimise the impact around developing alternative renewable energy sources.

Carroll described a legacy effect of COVID-19 in meat factories: “Not all of the controls that were put in place for COVID-19 are still in place, but the ones that were valuable in terms of monitoring cold and flu symptoms remain in place to a large extent.”

He also pointed out that labour remains an issue for factories, just as it is for the retail and hospitality sectors.

Permits

When asked about where the industry stood on work permits, he explained that the 2,000 permits granted have been used and that they will be looking for a new round of permits in the next few months.

MII would also like more flexibility by way of a top-up arrangement as opposed to specific applications.

When asked about employment opportunities and wages for these workers, Philip Carroll explained that they are paid the salary prescribed in the permit category – €22,000 for general operatives and €27,500 for deboners.

Bonus payment structures of the industry mean that most factory workers get well above this.

He also pointed out that they were trying to get the legislation changed so that these workers could avail of career progression opportunities that they cannot do at present.

Exit schemes

When asked by the Irish Farmers Journal for his final word at the end of our long discussion, Carroll returned to the beginning by saying that exit schemes are not the way forward and that the Government should be focusing on accelerating research and technological developments as the best way to drive down emissions from cattle.