Beef Plan reveals top-brass restructure and calls for MEP backing

The Beef Plan Movement has announced a restructuring of its organisation to better represent all counties and regions.

In a statement, the association revealed that it has restructured its national committee to ensure that all regions and counties are represented and confirm that “farmers’ voices are clearly heard” at a national level.

The regions also allow progression of producer organisation setups to complement the purchasing groups in place in each county, as well as helping with governance.

The first meeting of the Beef Plan Movement National Committee, which will take place next week, will see two representatives from five regions assemble, alongside with the organisation’s chairperson and secretary.

The national committee officers include: chairperson Eamon Corley; secretary Declan Molloy; Hugh Doyle and Michael Rafferty representing the East region; Helen O’Sullivan and Dermot O’Brien representing the South region; Enda Fingleton and Alan O’Brien of the South East; Eoin Donnelly and David Whelehan from the West; and Kieran Logue and Dermot Brennan representing the North West region.

Over the last two weeks, discussion relating to submissions on the future of the beef sector took place at Government Buildings.

Review of the submissions to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture shows that all organisations are calling for action and that beef farmer frustration is palpable, according to the group.

As voiced before the committee, an aid package for affected beef farmers is seen as essential by Beef Plan.

It was noted that current “market specifications” when allied to the low base price severely impact the potential to make a profit on beef cattle.

The Beef Plan has called for collaboration and engagement between farm organisations to abolish non value-add specifications.

MEP candidate meeting

Meanwhile, Beef Plan met a number of European election candidates for the Midlands-North West region on Thursday night last to voice the concerns of beef farmers with the current state of the sector.

Attendees included: Anne Rabbitte; Maria Walsh; Michael O’Dowd; Pat Greene; and Saoirse McHugh, along with a delegation from Beef Plan from the counties in the region.

Separate to this meeting, Matt Carthy and Luke Ming Flanagan had met recently with Beef Plan also.

The context for the meeting was to outline how beef farmers are supplying cattle to processors and subsequently retailers for a price that is consistently below the cost of production and to ensure that the candidates were fully informed and supportive of beef farmers.

Topics discussed at the event included: market specifications and applicability; the implementation of a ‘Fair Trade’ model; financial transparency; live exports; Mercosur; Brexit; and the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.

The organisation urged each farmer to question the candidates on the doorsteps, while all candidates acknowledged that beef farming is in a precarious position and that significant work needs to be done to redress the situation.

The candidates agreed to follow-up submissions to Beef Plan and its members, according to the group.