08th September 2015 

ICSA president Patrick Kent said that any extra funds for farmers as a result of the crisis Farm Council meeting in Brussels would have to adequately reflect the fact that beef and sheep farmers were under every bit as much pressure as dairy farmers.   While welcoming the possibility of a 70% advance of the Basic Payment in October, Mr Kent said that beef and sheep farmers’ incomes will still be worse than dairy farmers even when they have a crisis.

“It has to be acknowledged that the closure of the Russian market for meat products is impacting on beef.  Extra pigmeat on EU markets is causing pressure on EU prices for all meats.  Of course, the headline figures point to the level of price fall for dairying.  However, for cattle and sheep farmers, our income won’t drop spectacularly because it was never above subsistence level to begin with. 

“Therefore, any additional support package needs to treat all farming sectors fairly,” he concluded.