The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) will hold a ‘national meeting’ for pig farmers next week in Dublin.
The announcement of the meeting was made today (Thursday, February 2) by IFA president Tim Cullinan.
The meeting will take place next Thursday (February 9) at the Maldron Hotel in Tallaght, Dublin. It is set to get underway at 3:00p.m.
Minister for State Martin Heydon will address the meeting. The minister is the chairperson of the Pig Roundtable, a body of pig sector stakeholders that include farmer and processing sector representatives, Teagasc, Bord Bia, and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
The meeting will also feature presentations from Bord Bia which will cover domestic and export market updates, and pigmeat marketing activities.
Teasgasc will make a presentation on the outlook for the pig sector for this year.
The meeting will be held following the elections for the IFA National Pig Committee, which are due to be held at 1:45p.m.
Commenting on the need for this meeting, Cullinan – a pig farmer himself – said: “Export markets have been under pressure in January, and last Friday marked the second price of 4c/kg in the month for pig farmers.
“The pig industry has demonstrated huge strength and resilience through what has been an extremely difficult period, but farmers need prices to move up.
“The downward price pressure must stop and prices must return to sustainable and economically viable levels,” Cullinan added.
National Pig Committee chairperson Roy Gallie said the past 18 months have been “among the worst in living memory” for the sector, with the average size family farm accumulating losses of circa €600,000 for that period.
“There are real concerns among pig farmers for the sector and for their farms. Pig prices are at record highs, but inputs have soared to unfamiliar territory resulting in prolonged negative margins for producers. This must change,” Gallie said.