IFA Pigs Chairman Tom Hogan has called on factories to implement similar price increases to those seen across Europe in recent weeks. He said that given the recent dramatic improvement in market conditions, factories must now do the right thing and pass this on to farmers, who have been haemorrhaging money over the past number of months.

“Across the EU there have been dramatic price increases since January. Countries with a similar producing and export profile to Ireland have experienced price increases of 25-30%. Demand from Chinese buyers has been strong in recent weeks, due to a shortage of domestic pork production,” he said.

IFA held a crisis pig meeting of all farmers recently following the failure of the pig factories to adequately reflect the rising markets by returning much-improved pig prices.

Tom Hogan said, “Following this meeting, the IFA organised delegations of suppliers to meet their processors last week and demand a fully justified 10c/kg increase in the Irish pig price up to €1.60c/kg. Factories responded with a 4c/kg increase, which is not enough given the market conditions and export demand coming from buyers serving the Chinese market”.

Tom Hogan said, “Low pig prices combined with rising feed costs in 2018 resulted in the lowest margin in the last 20 years. Pig farmers are battered and bruised financially and mentally. They need to see the benefits of the improved market conditions immediately to begin the process of repaying the massive debt levels that has accumulated over the past 14 months.”

IFA National Sheep Chairman Sean Dennehy said sheep farmers should not accept the unrealistic low quoted prices offered by the meat factories this week for lamb.

Read More

IFA National Sheep Chairman Sean Dennehy said the Irish sheep sector is a very important farming enterprise with 35,000 farmers and an output of €390m.

Read More

IFA WELCOMES SUPPORT FOR IRISH HORTICULTURE IN CLIMATE ACTION REPORT

Commenting in advance of the official launch of the report from the Oireachtas Joint Committee on climate action, IFA Horticulture Chairman Paul Brophy, has welcomed the recommendations regarding the expansion of the Irish Horticulture sector.

Agreeing with the findings of the report the chairman said there are opportunities for import substitution and farm diversification by directing increased resources to the sector. “For example, the expansion of our apple sector would both benefit the economy form reducing imports while also contributing to carbon sequestration. However, as the report pointed out there is a lack of investment in this area including the absence of a full time Teagasc advisor which has stymied its development”, he said.

The chairman added, that if the Irish Horticulture sector is to benefit commercially from the trend towards more plant-based diets then the government must implement policies to create a robust and sustainable sector. “To date the government has failed in this regard with its refusal to regulate against unsustainable discounting and to appoint an independent retail regulator to police the grocery market”, he said.

Paul Brophy concluded by acknowledging the positive contribution of the ‘Scheme of Investment Aid for the Development of The Commercial Horticulture Sector’ to the industry. “The scheme is essential for the continued development and competitiveness of Irish horticulture and must be continued indefinitely post 2019 with an increased budget allocation”, he said.