6 MARCH 2018

ICSA beef chairman Edmund Graham has called on farmers to look for higher beef prices this week from factories. “Supermarket shelves are empty and factories will be under pressure to get beef moving to supermarket distribution centres. Factory supplies are low following the bad weather and farmers with numbers of cattle are in a strong position to get a price above the typical quotes available over the past few weeks.”

“The reality is that winter finishers have endured a long hard winter and the prices available this spring have been totally inadequate to cover the costs involved. The empty supermarket shelves show that farmers are the vital link in the food chain and it is timely to demand a price that reflects the importance of the job we do.

Consumers who take cheap food for granted need to realise that they are only ever a few days away from a food scarcity panic and that the supermarket model of squeezing the farmer is barely sustainable.”

ENDS