IFA President Eddie Downey has called on Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney and the Government to turn recent announcements about access to new beef markets in the US and China into real delivery and increased exports.
Speaking at the AIB National Livestock Show in Tullamore, Co Offaly, Downey said, "Minister Coveney needs to take action now on removing the technical obstacles holding back exports to these new markets, in order to deal with increased cattle numbers in the pipeline for 2017 and to prevent a repeat of the severe beef price and income problems of 2014."
Meanwhile, IFA National Livestock Chairman, Henry Burns said, "In the last two weeks, the factories have tried to destabilise the beef market and frighten farmers into selling cattle at lower quoted prices.
"Despite the propaganda from the meat plants, cattle supplies remain very tight and some plants were paying above quoted prices to get numbers," he added.
© 2015 - Checkout Magazine by Niall Swan
