By Michelle Crawley
A STRONG and united message of discontent was heard in Kilbeggan this week when hundreds of local farmers from Westmeath and Offaly staged a round-the-clock demonstration outside the Kepak meat processing plant at Rostella, Kilbeggan, to express their unhappiness with the current beef prices.
The Kepak factory was one of fourteen locations nationwide where farmers staged 48-hour protests this week in a bid to highlight their discontent with the massive price gap between the UK beef prices and our own, which the IFA claim is €350 euro less per animal. The action came after talks between the IFA and the meat industry of Ireland representatives broke down on Friday evening last, 7 November, after they failed to make progress on beef prices.
48 HOURS
Farmers arrived in their droves to the entrance of the Kepak factory this week to take part in the 48 hour protest which began at 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon last, 9 November. The highly organised protest saw groups of farmers and IFA members undertake four and five hour stints of protesting, with as many as 60 farmers at the site at a time. Local farmers told Topic this week that they were taking the stand as they are fed up of the excuses for the bad prices they are getting for their cattle and feel that they are being taken advantage of by meat processing plants who are not passing back market returns to beef producers.
PRICE GAP
“The reality is that farmers in Northern Ireland and across the UK get 25% more for their cattle than we are getting. There is one euro in the difference per kilogram between what farmers in the UK are getting and what we are getting. This represents a massive price gap that has to be addressed,” outlined Westmeath IFA chairman, Gordon Johnston to Topic on Monday morning of this week, outside the Kepak plant. “There is a huge number of farmers from Westmeath affected by this. After all, this is a beef country. Every livestock farmer and every farmer who breeds cattle is affected by this,” explained the Westmeath IFA chairman as he pointed to as many as 50 farmers gathered on the road outside the meat processing factory in Kilbeggan.
NOT REFLECTING THE MARKET CONDITIONS
The price drop earlier this year due to a lack of demand had a massive impact on farmers, who saw their incomes decrease significantly. It is understood that farmers had been assured all year that when the market conditions improved, beef prices would move on to reflect the improvement. However, the latest market evidence shows that the UK price has moved on by in recent months, yet the IFA claim that farmers in Ireland are being denied a return that reflects these improved market conditions. The IFA claim current prices in Britain for R grade steers are running at the equivalent of €4.70/kg incl vat, which is almost €1/kg higher than the €3.73/kg Irish price.
The IFA president, Eddie Downey, has stated that farmers are very determined that beef prices at the factories must rise to fairly reflect the very strong increase in UK cattle prices, where Irish beef sales are up 20% this year and that the issue of market price returns needs to be progressed by meat factories immediately. When contacted by Topic, a spokesperson for Kepak had no comment to make on the matter.
