The European Commission will likely publish Ireland’s application for protected geographical indication (PGI) for ‘Irish Grass Fed Beef’ in the coming weeks.
This will be the first part of a EU-wide consultation process, which will allow other member states, as well as non-EU countries (third countries) to scrutinise the PGI application.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue said today (Friday, November 19): “I am hopeful that the PGI application for Irish Grass Fed Beef, submitted by Bord Bia on behalf of Irish farmers, will be published by the commission in the coming weeks for the next stage of consultation at EU member state and third country level.
“If successfully registered, PGI status for Irish Grass Fed Beef could have significant benefits for all those in the supply chain, particularly our beef farmers who are cornerstones of the sector.”
The minister said that he and his department would continue to engage “intensively” with the European Commission on the application.
He also said that he would continue to speak with the Northern Irish agriculture minister Edwin Poots with a view to “ensuring that Northern Ireland can join the application at the appropriate time”.
The application was submitted around this time last year.
If the PGI application is successful, a ‘PGI monitoring group’ will be established.
‘Irish Grass Fed Beef’ is the name given to Irish beef from cattle raised on a grass based diet on pasture grazing farms, which derive at least 90% of their feed intake from grass and spend a minimum of 220 days per year throughout their lifetime grazing pasture, in accordance with the Bord Bia Grass Fed Standard.
In terms of how PGI status might impact on prices to farmers, Michael Dowling, the chairperson of the Beef Market Taskforce (which was involved in negotiating the details of the PGI application) said during the summer that “while nobody is prepared to say exactly what premium will come from it, the information we have is that, in general in Europe, there is something close to a 10% premium for a product which has PGI status over the equivalent product the doesn’t”.