Much talk during questions from the floor at Monday’s (January 23) Irish Farmers’ Association’s (IFA) national sheep meeting surrounded quality assurance (QA) bonuses for sheep.
Many questions were put to those at the top table on the night, in particular to representatives of Irish Country Meats and Bord Bia regarding lamb/hogget prices, with those in attendance calling for a fair return.
One question from the floor was about the level of QA bonuses being paid, with James Smyth of Irish Country Meats (ICM) told that “bonuses have been sitting for a long time at 10-15c/kg”.
Answering the question, Smyth said that ICM has increased its QA bonus to 20c/kg – up from 10c/kg.
This has been the case since the week ending January 21, when ICM confirmed to Agriland that its QA bonus had moved up to 20c/kg.
This caused some stir among attendees who were unaware of the increase.
However, across other factories, excluding ICM, at the start of the week gone by, QA bonuses remained at the 10-15c/kg range, which has been a frustration among farmers for quite some time.
Bord Bia’s Seamus McMenamin also provided some clarity around QA bonuses, saying that Bord Bia own the scheme and run the scheme but don’t have any say in the level of the bonus set.