1 MAY 2020

ICSA beef chair Edmund Graham has said confidence in the Beef Taskforce will be completely lost if it fails to tackle the crisis within the beef sector as a result of Covid-19. “We have been categorically let down by the Department of Agriculture’s failure to convene a meeting of the Beef Taskforce in response to these unprecedented challenges. Expecting farmers to continue to operate in a complete vacuum of information is inexcusable,” he said.

“Beef farmers are close to the brink in relation to cash flow and the lacklustre response from the EU has left many despairing. There is no future for producing beef at current prices and we have been looking to the Beef Taskforce to plot a way forward if the sector is to survive at all. This requires urgent input from all stakeholders.”

“Online conferencing platforms provide the means to convene the Taskforce but what we need now is a concerted effort from Minister Creed to make it happen.”

ENDS