I believe Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) president Pat McCormack to be totally ‘off beam’ in calling for a support payment on all Irish cows – sucklers and dairy.
For the record, I normally agree with many of the views expressed by the man in question. However, a clear focus must be placed now on ringfencing Ireland’s suckler industry.
Dairy cows have substantial support
In the first instance, dairy beef will be covered by the ‘Grass Fed Irish Beef’ Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). Secondly, dairy farmers cover all the other bases when it comes to developing farm income opportunities.
They receive a monthly milk cheque, as regular as clockwork. This covers all issues relating to cashflow. And, of course the beef-breed calf is also available as an additional source of income for these farmers.
Suckler farmers, on the other hand, only get one opportunity in the year to secure the future of their businesses.
If the cow loses her calf or fails to produce a calf every 365 days, then she becomes a more than significant burden to the farm.
Argument for suckler support scheme
So, yes, I believe there to be an unarguable case for the provision of a bespoke suckler cows support scheme. And I think the ICMSA should ‘row in’ fully behind this thinking.
Significantly, Pat McCormack feels strongly that Irish beef farmers should receive realistic prices for their produce. And here we are in total accord.
Moves are afoot in France at the present time to introduce a guaranteed price scheme for farmers. This approach would ensure that farmers receive returns that are, at the very least, in line, with increases in the costs they incur.
It is my belief that the French government can introduce measures of this kind on a national basis. But Brussels can give the green light for measures of this kind to be measured on an Europe-wide basis.
EU support for sucklers
One way of making this a reality would be for the EU to give a food ombudsman real teeth when it comes to adjudicating on the relationship that multiple retailers have with their farmer-suppliers.
Phil Hogan suggested this line of approach on numerous occasions during his term as EU agriculture commissioner. So I sense that a lot of the ground work, in terms of identifying the role that a food ombudsman can undertake, has already been carried out.
Meanwhile, the plight facing Irish sucklers remains a very real one. Let’s hope that the next Teagasc director decides to act on this issue as a matter of priority.