An “intensive lobbying campaign” is being driven by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) to get authorities to address the collapse in beef prices as a result of the Covid-19 emergency and the income crisis on livestock farms, the farm organisation says.

The IFA said it is working with TDs and MEPs to get Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed and the European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski to “take urgent action” on the matter.

IFA National Livestock Committee chairman Brendan Golden said Minister Creed and Commissioner Wojciechowski “cannot continue to ignore the beef crisis in Ireland”.

The IFA says that it has put forward proposals for APS (Aids to Private Storage) market support and direct payment support for beef farmers.

At national level, IFA has called on Minister Creed to immediately mobilise and make available to beef farmers the unspent €24 million from Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) funds in the form of a direct payment to farmers selling cattle, pending a more comprehensive EU package.

Commenting, Golden said: “The minister can do this immediately. The European Commission has specifically instructed member states to re-allocate unused funds.”

The IFA has also called on the EU to suspend non-EU beef imports, which amounted to 318,500t in 2019.

Up to 80% of these imports are coming from Mercosur countries like Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay and are made up of steak cuts destined for the EU food service market.

“These outlets are closed because of Covid-19 restrictions and non-EU imports should be suspended,” Golden stressed.

“Beef farmers are incurring major income losses with prices down 25c to 30c/kg in the last three to four weeks, well over €100/animal.”

Prices are back 40c/kg or €150/head on 2015 (pre-Brexit) levels, the chairman warned.

The Irish beef sector is export oriented, with a very small domestic market. 30% of the value of carcasses is made up of steak cuts and 60% of Irish steaks are sold to the food service sector.

The closure of these outlets due to Covid-19 is extremely damaging and disproportionately affecting Irish beef prices and farm incomes, the livestock chairman concluded.