Transparency in the beef industry and whether changes are merited for the grid payment system were key points for discussion in the Houses of the Oireachtas this week.
The Beef Taskforce, its performance and its future were the focus at this week’s Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine – with sustainable beef production a key point of debate.
As part of this, chairman of the Beef Taskforce Michael Dowling, and two senior officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine were brought before the committee for discussions.
During the meeting, committee member, senator Tim Lombard, highlighted that transparency and a long-term plan for the beef sector were two priorities listed as part of the Irish Beef Sector Agreement struck in September 2019. He asked the chairman whether the taskforce had been successful in achieving these targets.
Dowling replied: “I think there is some improvement with regard to transparency; in regard to the information that’s available – I think a significant improvement.
“I would think that for a lot of farmers they would think that, probably, it’s not transparent enough – but I think that’s as far as it can go at the moment.
“In regard to the long-term plan, the long-term plan will now need a very substantial [consultation] on the review of the CAP [Common Agricultural Policy], the requirements form a climate point of view, and other matters which weren’t within the remit of the beef taskforce.
“I think there will be a need for a consultative body for the beef industry going forward, beyond what the taskforce has been able to do, because those issues are not issues that the taskforce had the remit to examine, and particularly the CAP issue for instance is something that is only beginning to be crystallised now.
“So I think there is a consultative process required into the future for the beef, and indeed other, sectors in agriculture. It would follow on from the taskforce rather than being a job for the taskforce.”
Turning next from transparency to payments on the Quality Payment System (QPS) grid, senator Lombard asked for an update on this, to which Dowling said:
“Teagasc was asked to do a technical examination of the grid and they examined it in the light of price movements since the original grid was introduced.
“The conclusion was that the differences between the different categories on the grid had not changed sufficiently to justify adjusting the grid, so the conclusion was the grid as it stands should continue.
“They have looked from a technical point of view whether a different type of comparison could be made in respect of looking at carcasses from the point of view of cuts.
“They’ve outlined how that might operate and have asked the farm organisations to reflect on it and come back to them as to whether they would like to pursue a fundamentally different type of grid.
“My understanding is that that consultation is still going on and there is nothing significant coming back yet from the organisations,” the taskforce chairman said.
Finally, asked by senator Lombard as to whether farmers can be reassured that the grid is working “effectively and fairly”, without scope for tampering, Dowling said he thinks it is adding:
“The expectation was that the price differentials might need to be substantially changed because of the price changes in the market since it was first introduced – but the technical work done by Teagasc indicated that wasn’t necessary because the changes were not sufficient to justify any significant adjustment of the grid.”
In his opening statement issued to committee members ahead of the meeting, Dowling noted that Teagasc also conducted a review of the hot and cold weighing systems and concluded that the Irish average of 2% variance is in line with global averages.