A spokesperson for the Beef Plan Movement has said that it’s Meat Industry Ireland (MII) that will be scoring the ‘own goal’ – not the beef farmers.
The comment comes in response to this morning’s statement from MII claiming that plant disruptions from a renewed series of protests should not be turned into an “own goal”.
David Whelehan, vice-chair of the Beef Plan’s west region, has said: “We understand the market is difficult but because of the way the meat industry has the market conditioned, any price volatility and any market disturbance is passed directly back down to the farmer.
As a result, the processor and the retailers’ margins remain unaffected. Farmers take the hit for all this volatility and market disturbance.
Continuing, Whelehan moved to reiterate that, while there are individual protests in place around the country, the Beef Plan has “nothing got to do with them”.
He explained: “We have been in negotiations that have been a failure and at this stage, the ball is firmly in MII’s and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed’s court to come up with the real solutions to fix the key issues that are within the industry.”
He added: “We hold MII fully responsible for the current situation. If a proper willingness was demonstrated to show real change within the negotiations than individual farmers themselves wouldn’t have felt it necessary to go back out on picket lines.
We’ve been in negotiations with the threat of legal risks hanging over our heads and the only way this impasse is going to be resolved is by Minister Creed reconvening the talks between MII and the Beef Plan.
“The unfortunate position we’re in is that as long as we have these legal writs hanging over us we’re not in a position to negotiate.
“This is a bully-boy tactic used by factories to put fear through the ordinary working farmer on the ground.”
Concluding, Whelehan stressed: “There are three toxic ingredients at play in the processing industry: power; money; and greed.”