A recommendation to review feedlot operations in Ireland is expected to be proposed in a wide-ranging report focused on Food Wise 2025 progress – with a specific focus on the beef sector.

AgriLand understands that the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine will call on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, to conduct a review of department registered beef feedlots following significant concerns raised by the country’s farm organisations in recent times.

It is believed that the review of department registered, factory-owned and factory contracted feedlots will be recommended to the minister with a view to establishing the potential impact these operations are having on kill figures.

Earlier in the year, the committee heard presentations on concerns with regard to the prevalence of feedlots in the beef sector.

The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) previously claimed to the committee that feedlots are “being used by processors to manage supply and prices”.

The ICMSA confirmed to AgriLand that when speaking to the committee, it stated there were 54,000 cattle killed in department-registered feedlots in January and February of 2019.

At the time, the ICMSA claimed that this figure “equated to 17%” of the total beef kill for the first two months of the year.

The ICMSA’s president, Pat McCormack, claimed that such a contribution had a “massive impact” on any hope of a price rise for the primary producer.

Full details of the Joint Oireachtas committee will be revealed at lunchtime today. Stay tuned to AgriLand for more…