The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) has welcomed increased price reporting obligations on processors and retailers under a new EU directive.
ICSA president Dermot Kelleher was responding to the signing into law of a new statutory instrument by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue last week, which gave effect to EU rules on price reporting.
The aim of the statutory instrument is to impose reporting obligations on processors and retailers under Irish law.
“For the first time processors will not only be obliged to report data on prices paid to farmers for their cattle and sheep but they will also be obliged to supply information relating to the onward sale of that product to wholesalers and retailers.
“This move marks a step forward on the road to greater transparency along the entirety of the food chain. For too long the profit margins on key products such as beef and lamb have been shrouded in secrecy,” Kelleher commented.
“There is no question that this has resulted in massive profiteering off the backs of our hard-working primary producers,” he argued.
On the separate Unfair Trading Practices (UTP) directive – which Minister McConalogue signed into Irish law in April this year – Kelleher said it was “a step in the right direction [but] was never on its own going to be enough when applied to the beef sector in particular”.
The ICSA president argued that this new directive should be followed up with a regulator for the beef sector.
“The next step must be the establishment of a dedicated beef regulator. The legislation announced [by the minister] paves the way for this, but it requires even further legislation,” Kelleher noted.
“The onus is now on Minister McConalogue to deliver on this additional legislation and to ensure that such a beef regulator has all the necessary investigative powers to be truly effective,” he concluded.