The Beef Taskforce, after 10 meetings, could be nearing the end of its road, taskforce chair Michael Dowling hinted earlier this week – but what has been achieved to date through the group?
Brought before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine on Tuesday (July 6), Dowling in his opening statement provided a breakdown of what exactly has been implemented since the taskforce was set up in September 2019, as the beef factory protests were ending.
Noting that the tenth meeting of the body – originally dubbed the “Beef Market Taskforce” – had been held on June 3, 2021, the chairman said that he informed members at that meeting that he was satisfied that “sufficient progress had been made” to provide a report to Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue.
Under the Irish Beef Sector Agreement struck in September 2019, 38 specific actions were set out. These have nearly all been dealt with, the chairman said. On these, Dowling said:
“First, a key section of the beef sector agreement dealt with existing and new bonuses. There was an immediate significant increase of two-thirds in the existing in-spec bonus for steers and heifers, from 12c/kg to 20c/kg.
“In addition, there was a reduction in the in-spec residency requirement. As well as this, two new additional in-spec bonus categories were put in place for steers and heifers which up to then had not been eligible for any bonus due to age or carcass classification.”
Another “immediate benefit” was increased market and price transparency, the chairman said, adding:
“Bord Bia developed a beef market price index model based on three components: cattle price index, beef market price index (retail and wholesale) and an offal price indicator.
“This index shows the relationship between the Irish price and a composite export benchmark price for prime cattle which reflects the relative importance of key markets for Irish beef; an index of wholesale and retail prices; and a by-product market indicator. In addition, the Beef Pricewatch app was enhanced to provide additional information,” he said.
The chairman also pointed to the three studies conducted on the beef sector by Grant Thornton, examining competition law issues in Irish beef, a review of market and customer requirements and an independent examination of the price composition of the “total value of the animal” along the supply chain.
The Quality Payment System (QPS) grid system was also examined, while Dowling claimed that Meat Industry Ireland had confirmed to the taskforce that the main industry commitments from the agreement had been met, including on bonuses, right to access carcass images, written confirmation of terms of sale where requested and a four-month notice in the case of changes to weight limits.
However, it was acknowledged that not all factories have provided a lairage weighing services on request “due to prioritisation of other beef sector agreement items” a lack of “indications of demand” from farmers and the ongoing public health crisis.
Work had also been conducted on the development of the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) through the taskforce, the chairman noted, while discussions were also had on the transposition of the Unfair Trading Practices Directive and plans for the establishment of a new office of the National Food Ombudsman or regulator.
Additionally, agreement was reached on the establishment of a Suckler Brand Development Oversight Group to provide oversight in the €6 million development plan for a suckler brand by Bord Bia.
“One of the final actions to be completed under the remit of the taskforce is the commitment to invite EU experts from DG Agri to brief the taskforce on EU initiatives on market transparency, including the EU meat market observatory model and methodology.”
A webinar on this topic is scheduled to take place next week, Dowling added.
“There are eight actions [of the 38] which relate to ongoing activity which will continue outside of the context of the Beef Taskforce. Updates on this ongoing work have been given to the taskforce,” Dowling’s opening statement said.
Quizzed by Oireachtas committee members as to how successful the taskforce has been in terms of providing transparency, the chairman said:
“I think there is some improvement with regard to transparency; in regard to the information that’s available – I think a significant improvement.
“I would think that for a lot of farmers they would think that, probably, it’s not transparent enough – but I think that’s as far as it can go at the moment,” Dowling said.