The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) is set to launch a ’10-point plan’ on the future of the suckler sector and food security.
The full title of the document is “10-Point Plan for the future of suckler beef farming and ensuring food security for EU citizens and consumers”.
The launch will take place in the Buswells Hotel, Dublin, next week on Thursday, July 11. The plan will be unveiled at 1:30pm.
The plan comes on the heels of an agreement between the EU and the Mercosur trading bloc in South America, which was announced last Friday, June 28.
Following that announcement, Colm O’Donnell, the association’s president, said that the deal was a “confirmation of the EU’s hypocrisy on climate change”.
“This deal proves that big industry will trump the environment, our farmers and our rural communities. This a u-turn on the line the EU gives on the need to protect all of these,” said O’Donnell.
It also undermines EU standards on food safety, as we cannot guarantee the true origin of the beef and all the associated risks that goes with this.
He added that the deal would also have “devastating effects” for the wider farming sector and rural communities.
“For this reason it is vital that our Government and all elected public representatives do everything they can to undermine this deal,” O’Donnell urged.
He called on farmers to contact their public representatives, especially MEPs, and “impress on them the need to act”.