28th April 2014
ICSA beef chairman Edmond Phelan has outlined key requirements for the new and improved beef price reporting proposed by Minister Coveney as part of an effort to ensure that there is greater price transparency for farmers. According to Mr Phelan, the current figures available are averages for each grade and category of animal. “However, this does not supply enough information about what is really going on. We need to know the full range of prices paid by factories each week including the special deals available to very big feedlot operators.”
Mr Phelan said that there was also an urgent need to see the proportion of cattle actually receiving a quality assurance bonus as well as the cuts applied to non-quality assured cattle. “While we know that a large majority of cattle being supplied are coming from quality assured farms, it is likely that only a minority of the total cattle kill each week is actually getting a bonus. This is due to factors such as bulls and cows not being eligible, overage cattle not being eligible, lower conformation grades not being eligible and cattle being ruled out because they have been bought in a mart within the previous 70 days.”
“Farmers are outraged that the quality assurance scheme has been manipulated and while the 12c bonus sounds good, we need to see how many cattle are really getting it,” he concluded.
