IFA to Meet Minister McConalogue on Proposals for Pig Sector

IFA will meet the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue tonight to discuss the proposal to secure the future of the pig sector.

The Minister attended today’s protest and spoke with the IFA President Tim Cullinan, the Chair of the IFA Pigs Committee Roy Gallie and pig farmers.

Tim Cullinan said the sector’s entire future hangs in the balance and there has to be urgent Government action to support pig farmers.

“We are staring into the abyss here. Our pig sector is an important part of agriculture in this country, contributing nearly €1bn in exports. However, the sector cannot survive a projected loss of €160m in 2022,” he said.

Roy Gallie said the situation could not be more stark.  “We are caught in a devastating price/cost squeeze. Some farmers have already culled breeding sows and more are suspending production. They cannot produce with losses of over €50 per pig, and rising.”

“If the Government wants a pig sector, it must act now. We are at the point where farmers are exiting. If more go, then the upstream and downstream businesses become unviable and then the sector will be gone. It is that serious,” he said.