Prices for Irish organic beef should reach up to €6.60/kg by next March as a steady supply of cattle is needed to meet demand, a conference has heard.

John Purcell, managing director of organic beef processor Good Herdsmen, made the comments as he addressed BioFarm 2024, held recently in Co. Limerick.

Currently, there are around 75 million cattle across the European Union, of with around 6.5 million (8.6%) are classified as organic.

Purcell said in Ireland only around 2% of the national herd of 6.5 million bovines is organic, including dairy animals.

“That just gives you the scope of where we could get this sector into,” he said.

Good Herdsmen

Good Herdsmen was established in 1989 in Co. Tipperary as a marketing platform for Irish organic livestock farmers.

The processor, which is owned by ABP, only slaughters organic heifers and steers from beef breeds at under 36 months.

Good Herdsmen is currently slaughtering around 10,000 organic cattle annually and feeds 1,200 cattle per year to support shortfalls in supply.

Purcell said that they are looking forward to the forecasted increases in organic beef cattle that lie ahead.

Along with a presence in all major Irish retailers, Good Herdsmen is supplying some of the top supermarket chains in Europe.

“These shelves will offer up more space when we have more produce to offer,” Purcell said.

Good Herdsmen has been serving the European baby food industry for over a decade and is now one of the largest suppliers of organic baby food beef ingredient in Europe

E-commerce platforms are also playing a significant role in the growth of the business.

Organic beef

Purcell said that conventional beef prices have reached “unprecedented levels and have continued to buck seasonal trends”, which is likely to continue into 2025.

As a result, he said the Good Herdsmen pricing model for last two months of 2024 “looked out of sync with the rest of the industry”.

“This has now been amended, basically we added another 25c/kg to the template price, and should end up at €6/kg by Christmas,” he said.

Good Herdsmen will continue to offer 3-month pricing templates, it is expected that prices in the first six months of 2025 will be up 8% on the same period this year.

Purcell said that organic beef prices should reach €6.50-€6.60/kg by March 2025.

John Purcell, managing director of Good Herdsmen, speaking at BioFarm 2024

The conference heard that some organic farmers who bought store cattle in the autumn and killed off grass this year returned around €600/head gross profit.

Recent farm walks on organic suckler to beef farms identified returns of around €1,100/ha before Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) monies were added.

However, farmers that bought store cattle in the spring and killed off grass only grossed around €100/head.

“These farmers will have to share the load and winter some cattle and enjoy better margins,” Purcell said.

He also pointed to “very marginal returns” and a lack of confidence among winter finishers for organic beef.

“Good Herdsmen want to support all the organic beef finishing models, more importantly higher rewards and more certainty for the farmers killing between December – June,” he said.

Organic cattle numbers

Purcell said that the total number of organic beef cattle as of September 2024 stood at 61,340 head, while another 55,000 are awaiting full organic status in January.

However, these figures may now be lower given the strong conventional beef prices in the back end of the year which may have resulted in greater “leakage” of organic cattle from the system.

A recent study revealed that “17% of organic cattle aged under one-year-old leave the organic value chain, leaking to the conventional market as a result of imbalances in the development of the beef value chain”.

When suckler cows and replacements are removed and leakage is accounted for, Purcell said there should be around 20,000 finished beef cattle available in 2025.

He said that the industry can handle this amount of finished cattle if presented in a balanced way across the entire year.

“We have securely positioned your organic beef with the best European retailers and manufacturers, however we need 52 weeks’ supply to keep these customers interested, we need your continued support,” he said.

Markets

Purcell told the conference that pricing will be driven by international market trends, and the long-term trend looks positive for Irish organic beef farmers.

“The challenge will remain to keep beef at a price that is both incentivising to the sector to invest, and not so high that base consumption is lost,” he said.

The conference heard that marketing routes have already been established and 70% of organic Irish beef is currently being exported.

Purcell said that consumer preferences moving towards “high-quality and sustainably sourced beef” are driving market growth, with consumers increasingly seeking transparency and traceability in their food choices.

“The rise in organic beef production offers opportunities for expansion into international markets, leveraging our region’s reputation for high-quality beef products to capitalise on growing global demand for premium beef,” he said.

However, he warned that there are challenges for the sector, including competition from beef breed specific promotions, conventional Irish grass-fed beef with protected geographical indication (PGI) status and alternative proteins.

Good Herdsmen

Organic beef

Organic cattle numbers

Markets

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