IFRG seeks seat at Monday's beef talks
The Irish Family-Farm Rights Group (IFRG) has called for a seat at the table of the upcoming talks between farmers and meat processors.
Donie Shine, national chair of IFRG, has said: “Among the issues I would raise at the talks would be that of the so-called four-movements rule whereby factories withhold Bord Bia bonuses to farmers who slaughter animals with more than four changes of ownership on their cards.”
Shine added: “The IFRG has been getting to the bottom of the origins of the four-movements rule for some time now and after meeting with representatives of several big retailers based in Ireland we discovered that the majority of them have no problem with animals with more than four movements on their cards.
If progress can be made on this issue, it could remove the disproportionately adverse financial affect that it has on what should be farmers’ free trade in livestock.
Concluding, Shine added that IFRG supported recent calls to increase the age limit that animals must be slaughtered from 30 months to 36 months.
Meanwhile, six farm organisations have been confirmed to attend the second round of talks on Monday.
The farmer-representative groups that have confirmed their attendance to AgriLand are: Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA); Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA); Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA); Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA); Macra na Feirme; and the Beef Plan Movement.
