The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) has said that the “true test” of the Irish Grass Fed Beef protected geographic indication (PGI) will be to see if it delivers “champagne” prices for farmers.
The association’s comments came after an event in Co. Donegal today (Friday, March 1) to mark the registration of ‘Irish Grass Fed Beef’ as an all-island PGI.
The event was attended by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue and Northern Ireland’s Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Andrew Muir.
During the event, Minister Muir described the PGI as putting Irish Grass Fed Beef on the same level as world-renowned products like Champagne, Parma Ham, Roquefort Cheese and Irish Whiskey.
Sean McNamara, the ICSA’s president, said: “The grass-fed PGI has been a long time coming and it is now urgent that it delivers higher prices to farmers. A PGI reflects the very important work that farmers do, and it is they that should benefit from it.”
However, the ICSA president added: “We also need to see more urgency in delivering the suckler premium brand. This is going on for four years now and progress is painstakingly slow. It is not good enough – at the rate we are going there will be no sucklers left to benefit.”
In late 2020, during a meeting of the Beef Market Taskforce (which was set up in the wake of the 2019 factory gate protests and which has since been disbanded), an agreement was reached to devote €6 million for the development of a premium suckler beef brand.
Irish Grass Fed Beef
‘Irish Grass Fed Beef’ includes cattle that derive at least 90% of their feed intake from grass. This is primarily grazed grass, with winter feeding of silage and hay.
EU quality policy aims to protect the names of specific products to promote their unique characteristics, linked to their geographical origin as the traditional skills and processes used to produce them.
Product names can be granted a ‘geographical indication’ (GI) – of which PGI is one type – if they have a specific link to the place where they are made.
The PGI symbol will also help consumers to identify ‘Irish Grass Fed Beef’ products in key export markets.