Irish farmers and the meat industry hold crunch talks

Healy said the IFA “made it abundantly clear to the meat factory representatives that anger is rising among farmers over the speed and severity of the beef price cuts over the last month”​.

He added that the IFA made it very clear to the factory representatives that the cattle price cuts must stop. He said the €100 per head cut in cattle prices had gone too far and it was essential that stability and confidence were restored at farm level.

There was also a call for the meat factories to invest in their farmer suppliers at this time of uncertainty in the market with currency fluctuations.

Angus Woods told MII that cattle farmers were under “savage income pressure from the price cuts”. He said the negative message from the factories to farmers was overdone and it was time for stability to be restored.

The IFA had previously called for a meeting with the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed on this issue.

Healy said Minister Creed and the Department of Agriculture had worked hard and made considerable progress on market access issues and interaction with UK retailers, and the Minister could not allow the factories to undermine the value of this work with opportunistic beef price cuts.

He added that the Minister must insist there was competition in the trade, that market returns were fairly passed back to farmers, and that he must ensure market access delivered real price gains and stability back to farmers.