News – May 2009
29th May 2009 – New Joint Venture May Reduce Competition in the Livestock Sector
ICSA beef chairman Sean Scully has expressed concern at the planned initiative between Kepak and Dawn Meats to build a new super processing plant in Kilbeggan. “Farmers are concerned that this joint venture may have a direct impact on competition in the livestock sector. Many will believe that this could perhaps be a foretaste of a full merger coming down the tracks.”
Mr Scully questioned whether the Competition Authority should become involved and examine this proposal to ensure that it will not further damage competition in the beef market. “Many farmers are questioning whether this venture will be eligible for some of the €70 million in funding for meat processors announced this week. They will ask is it appropriate that government funding could be seen to enable a further reduction in competitiveness in the livestock market.”
28th May 2009 – Adequate Access for Farmers Must be Considered as Part of Planned Closure
ICSA rural development chairman Gabriel Gilmartin has said that the planned cost cutting programme by the Department of Agriculture must be tempered by the need to ensure adequate access for the farming public.
Mr Gilmartin said, “While we recognise that these cuts are needed and 4,500 staff is not sustainable, consideration must be given to the needs of individual farmers who need support in resolving difficulties. Many farmers need to visit their local Department offices, often under urgent circumstances to get permits, lodge applications for support schemes, if problems with TB occur or to resolve issues that arise from inspections. While some of these issues can be resolved online or over the phone, the nature of the problem often requires face to face contact.”
“Moreover a significant number of farmers can find all of these problems daunting and need the personal assistance of a Department staff member to help resolve the situation. While it may not be necessary to have a full compliment of staff, offices and resources, some form of access must be available in every county. Consideration could be given to the possibility of sharing offices with Teagasc where available.”
“ICSA believes that in the current economic circumstances staff levels cannot be maintained as they are in the Department. Scope exists to perhaps reduce the number of inspectors. However, the availability of staff is essential on a county by county basis if farmer compliance, disease control and EU funded schemes are to be maintained.”
28th May 2009 – FWMS Grants Delays Causing Major Financial Hardship for Farmers
ICSA rural development chairman Gabriel Gilmartin has called for inspections under the Farm Waste Management Scheme (FWMS) to be completed as quickly as possible and for payments to be made to farmers as a matter of urgency. “Cash flow difficulties for many farmers brought on by poor weather conditions have found many in a serious financial situation and this is not being helped by delays to grant payments that farmers are owed.”
“As of last week there were over 8,000 grants outstanding with many still waiting on inspection. Banks are charging almost double interest rates for bridging loans that many farmers have been forced to extend while they wait for their first 40% payment.”
“While we recognise that a lot of work has been put in by inspectors and the issuing of grant cheques is running smoothly, every effort must now be made to clear any backlog and get farmers paid as quickly as possible. Perhaps the Department would consider carrying out inspections on a parish by parish basis in order to speed up the process.”
27th May 2009 – Beaches Fail Minimum Water Quality Test
ICSA Munster vice president Edmond Phelan has said that agriculture is being unfairly scapegoated as the main contributing factor to poor water quality results at many of our nation’s beaches.
Commenting on the release yesterday of the Quality of Bathing Water in Ireland 2008 by the EPA Mr Phelan said “it is a sweeping generalisation to presume all problems with water quality can be blamed on agriculture. If the chief cause of the problem was agricultural runoff due to rainfall, every beach in the country would be affected. The problem would not be contained to just nine areas, four of which are in the Fingal area of Dublin.”
“It must also be recognised that over the last few years the use of chemical fertiliser has dropped considerably on Irish farms. Billions of euro have also been spent by farmers on improving farm waste management specifically to comply with the nitrates directive and to ensure water quality.”
25th May 2009 – NEW GRANTS FOR PROCESSORS WHILE FARMERS WAIT FOR PAYMENTS
ICSA president Malcolm Thompson has reacted with dismay to government plans to make €68m available to processors to upgrade their facilities. “I have no objection to processors getting grants when monies are available, but a string of budget cuts on farmer schemes suggests that this cannot be afforded at present. Surely the government should have taken care of its obligations to farmers under the Farm Waste Management grant before embarking on any new spending,” said a frustrated Mr Thompson.
“Farmers will be sore that there seems to be no budgetary difficulties in relation to this fund. It will be interesting to see if the grant aid for factories is paid as agreed or whether there will be a later announcement to stagger the payments over three years, as has happened with the Farm Waste Management Grant,” he added.
ICSA beef chairman Sean Scully re-echoed these sentiments and added, “With the prices factories are currently paying farmers, I cannot see enough cattle being produced to make use of new facilities. The actions of beef factories in recent months show that they have no intention of making any effort to support beef farmers. Beef prices here have been consistently behind UK prices and following an extremely difficult and prolonged winter finishing period, most beef farmers are in dire straits.”
Mr Scully also criticised the fact that the scheme is biased towards larger scale processors as the minimum expenditure is €2 million. “We need to hold on to smaller processors. Many abattoirs have already been put out of business by excessive government regulation. This has reduced competition which has been to the detriment of farmers.”
18th May 2009 – ICSA Advises Farmers to Hold their Nerve
ICSA beef chairman Sean Scully has said that it is a time for beef farmers to hold their nerve with regards to achieving good prices for their animals. Prices this week are in the majority unchanged, however, Mr Scully says that these prices are more readily available in most factories this week.
U grade bullocks are making 319c/kg (£1.14/lb), R grades 314c/kg (£1.12/lb) and 302c/kg (£1.08/lb) for O grades. Factory heifers are trading at 319c/kg – 325c/kg (£1.14/lb – £1.16/lb). Good cows have improved in price which is another positive sign, with them making 280c/kg – 291c/kg (£1.00/lb – £1.04/lb) and bulls are trading at 314c/kg – 319c/kg (£1.12/lb – £1.14/lb).
Mr Scully said “it is a time for farmers to hold their nerve and wait for the game to turn their way.”
13th May 2009 – RTE Aertel May Discontinue Sheep Prices
A question mark has been placed over the future of RTE Aertel’s provision of sheep prices as part of its farming pages. Speaking today ICSA sheep chairman Mervyn Sunderland has described the service as a very useful one for sheep farmers and is urging that it will not be discontinued.
“Many farmers use this service before selling their sheep and find it useful to get a sense of the market prices available. It would be a shame to see it discontinued and we would hope that it will be reinstated,” he said.
12th May 2009 – ICSA Calls for REPS 4 Farmers to Be Paid for 2008
ICSA rural development chairman Gabriel Gilmartin has called today for all of those farmers who applied for REPS 4 and were rejected from the scheme for 2008 to be paid.
Mr Gilmartin said “A number of farmers have been rejected from the 2008 scheme as a result of deficiencies in their REPS plans through no fault of their own. It is not an acceptable state of affairs that they will now lose out on payment as a result of a breakdown in communication between REPS planners and the department. The whole REPS 4 scheme has been marred by even more red tape from Brussels and farmers are being made carry the can.”
“Where there are deficiencies in plans, the chance must be given to fix them. We are calling on the department to look favourably on amended plans that are resubmitted with a view to paying them for 2008.”
8th May 2009 – ICSA Calls for Country of Origin Labelling Loop Holes to be Closed
ICSA president Malcolm Thompson has called for loop holes in country of origin labelling to be closed. Speaking in response to celebrity chef Richard Corrigan’s comments today with regards to the promotion of Irish food Mr Thompson said, “There must be no ambiguity for Irish consumers regarding country of origin labelling on any product sold in any outlet.”
“ICSA favours more detailed information on the quality of products being made available to consumers through agreed standards for voluntary labelling schemes across Europe.”
8th May 2009 - On Farm Burial Must Be Kept as an Option for Fallen Animal Disposal
ICSA has outlined to Minister Smith that on farm burial must remain an option for farmers to dispose of fallen animals in the light of the current exorbitant rise in costs. In a meeting with the Minister yesterday, ICSA reiterated that as a result of the scrapping of the Fallen Animal scheme in last month’s supplementary budget, current charges are totally out of bounds for farmers.
ICSA president Malcolm Thompson said “we need solutions to drive down costs of dead animal disposal which may mean introducing more competition and more outlets for rendered material. It’s no longer viable to export rendered material to Germany and we must look at productive uses for this material with a view to making its disposal as self financing as possible. On farm burial is our ultimate weapon in the fight against unrealistic costs and it must always remain an option.”
Mr Thompson explained that he had lobbied hard to have export licenses fast tracked and welcomed the fact that some had now been issued, “this will enable knackeries to export their material to Northern Ireland where it can be rendered for £65 per ton as opposed to €130 here. I expect to see this price drop being passed on by the knackeries as farmers simply cannot afford to pay these inflated charges. For too long the government has been too ready to accept these exorbitant charges being passed on to farmers,” concluded Mr Thompson.
ICSA also expressed frustration at the fact that the agriculture sector had borne a disproportionate burden of recent budget cuts and that €164 million of total cuts in one year was not an equal sharing of the pain. ICSA general secretary Eddie Punch said he was gravely concerned that the productive, export driven areas such as agriculture seemed to be viewed as “soft targets” and warned that such cuts would in the long run prove to be counter productive.
6th May 2009 – ICSA Seeks Clarification on Forestry Premia Deductions
ICSA has sought clarification from the Minister of State with responsibility for Fisheries and Forestry, Tony Killeen on deductions that have been made to premia owing to farmers involved in forestry.
ICSA president Malcolm Thompson said “on top of the 8% cut that was imposed on forestry premia in the supplementary budget on 7th April last, it is our understanding that forestry payments will now be subject to the income levy. This is a complete u-turn by the government on agreement with farmers that income from forestry would be tax free. As forestry is a long term and irreversible land use decision, it is absolutely unreasonable to subject it to sudden and unexpected reversals of policy decisions applied on a retrospective basis.”
“It is our understanding that there was an agreement in place to pay premia at the end of March this year, however, payment was delayed until May 5th. The 8% cut has since been applied to these payments, despite the fact that they were due before the supplementary budget took place.”
“We have requested a meeting with Minister Killeen in order to discuss the forestry situation as a matter of urgency,” he concluded.
