June 27th, 2019
A new report on Ireland’s beef sector has been largely welcomed by the beef farming community but tensions remain high with Brexit looming in the background.
The
committee Report
on the Future of Beef Sector in the Context of Food Wise 2025
which
contains twelve key recommendations was launched in Dáil Éireann
yesterday.
Beef
Chairman for the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA)
Edmund Graham welcomed the report and specifically recommendation 10
to oppose the Mercosur trade deal.
The
EU-Mercosur Free Trade deal would allow free beef trade between the
EU and Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.
Mr
Graham said it is “rank hypocrisy” for the EU to insist on
climate measures while “supporting
the importation of beef from South America, involving the cutting
down of rain forest.”
“The
climate action plan indicates that Irish farmers will be expected to
plant more trees. Yet the importation of more South American beef
will lead to further destruction of the rain forest with a lot more
negative environmental impact than anything we can possibly
compensate for in Europe,” he said.
The
group maintain it would be an “unmitigated disaster” for the
Irish beef sector and this risk is “more pronounced because of
Brexit uncertainty”.
Last
month, a Brexit Package of €100 million was agreed upon by the EU
commission for struggling Irish beef farmers.
The
ICSA conducted research to show that Brexit was costing beef farmers
€4 million a week.
Pat
Deering TD who chaired the committee meeting assured attendees that
Ireland’s position on Mercosur had
been relayed
to
relevant EU bodies.
Live-Exports
The
committee recommended that a section be created within the Department
of Agriculture to help with live-exports.
Beef
Plan Vice-President Hugh Doyle said that this recommendation is
crucial as the beef industry in Ireland has been “dying on its feet
for the last ten years”.
Doyle
explained that the beef market-place in Ireland has been flooded the
past three years as we produce on average an extra eight thousand
calves per week and import beef from Poland too.
“No
primary producer can demand a respectable price if the market is
flooded at all times,” he said.
To increase cattle live-exports would require a “huge push from Government” but would have great results for farmers, he said.
Beef
Plan, which is an NGO, is calling for €2-3 million of the Brexit
Package to be put towards branding premier Irish suckler Beef which
is GM free and fed high protein soya beans as well as omega-3 rich
foods.
Doyle
also maintained that beef retailers need to engage with the committee
on Food Agriculture and the Marine – as of yet they have failed to do
so.
The
report found that funding should go towards researching sexed-semen
techniques.
Sexed-semen
straws are used in AI and generally have a 90 per cent purity rate
making them that much more likely to produce a female calf – a
positive outcome for beef and dairy farming.
A
spokesperson for the Green Party said that the party are “deeply
concerned” with this kind of technology as its is a move to a
farming model “we don’t agree with”.
The
Greens’ spokesperson said that overall they did not see the type of
“radical reform” in the report that would be required to meet
adequate animal welfare and climate action standards.
Other
committee recommendations included that the best interests of all
stakeholders be considered when forming the Common Agricultural
Policy (CAP) strategic plan.
The
committee group were also supportive of the Minister’s decision to
form a CAP post 2020 consultative committee.
Hugh
Doyle of Beef Plan concluded that the report was overall positive for
the farming community but said it now requires action and “can’t
be left on a shelf to gather dust.”
by
Marianne Foody
The post ‘Rank hypocrisy’ for EU to insist on agri-climate measures while supporting Mercosur deal appeared first on Green News Ireland.
