Arthur
Well-Known Member
To whom it may concern..https://www.farmersjournal.ie/save-our-sucklers-sign-our-open-letter-339402
We have a HUGE payment.....167€ for the 1st 50 cows, 124€ for the 2nd 50 cows and 66€ there after.What about France?They have a big suckler cow premium.
It comes down to money and their isn't enough of it anymore for what we are producing. Which should be no surprise as we do nothing but devalue it, the cheaper we produce it the worse it is for us as farmers.A very honest article here from Robin Talbot this week.
https://www.independent.ie/business...-beef-farmers-are-hurting-badly-37472224.html
The general consensus is that we don’t get enough for the finished beef and the man producing the calf isn’t getting enough for what he’s doing so no one is making any money but beef is at a price where it can’t get any dearer in the shops or people will stop buying it that is a definite . So does anyone know how much profit the factories are actually making on a finished animal ? . Yes they are doing better than us but theirs is not a simple job either, I’m no expert but I’ve family working in the office of a factory and they tell me it’s tough going . Take the overheads of a factory from the animal comes in the gate until it leaves in a box, anyone any idea what it would cost per head? I’d say it’s astrnomical. I’m no fan of the processors but can anyone actually put figures to any of this? Genuine question.
It’s cheap food that the worlds governments want, they could stop below cost selling of food tomorrow if they felt like it but once the urban voter is happy and food is affordable then they don’t care about farmers once we have just enough to surviveMaybe put some more land in biomass as well. Lengthen the period of grants to 50 years for broad leaf plantations. Reducing output as @jcb411abuser says is the way to go.
I'm afraid it's always going to be that wayIt’s cheap food that the worlds governments want, they could stop below cost selling of food tomorrow if they felt like it but once the urban voter is happy and food is affordable then they don’t care about farmers once we have just enough to survive
Me too that’s why I mentioned it. It’s only when there will be a major international food scarcity caused by weather, war or some sort of health scare that it will rocket. The government don’t seem too bothered about the suckler cow and the future of it, they don’t contribute enough to exports, beef contributes hugely to exports but there are plenty fattening stock from the bull calves from the expanding dairy herd to keep the beef kill numbers high, once the dairy herd numbers stay where they are or increase more then there will always be enough beef there, that will keep the government and factories happy, all be it not the same quality of animal but does the consumer really care, burgers and mince are from poorer quality cuts, prime steaks are made only 10% of the meat sold(might be wrong there). Is the average suckler herd in Ireland is 17 cows, kind of hard to blame the government for not firing money at that. I don’t think it’s the factories that make the killing from beef, it’s the retailers I blame 100% as their mark up is phenomenal. It’s the shops that lads need to protest at and not the factories but as I said earlier you won’t get government backing as cheap food keeps the majority of voters in urban areas happy.I'm afraid it's always going to be that way
It’s cheap food that the worlds governments want, they could stop below cost selling of food tomorrow if they felt like it but once the urban voter is happy and food is affordable then they don’t care about farmers once we have just enough to survive
Which is why we've got to do what we can to control the price. We own the land and decide what to do with it.It’s cheap food that the worlds governments want, they could stop below cost selling of food tomorrow if they felt like it but once the urban voter is happy and food is affordable then they don’t care about farmers once we have just enough to survive
It's like what how I believe the EU works. It's all well and good producing a product and having a market for it but unless you actually control the sale of it its no good.That's it exactly! That's why we have the CAP payments. That's why they will give financial support in times of crisis.
But herein lies the problem....
We farmers produce food at very low cost (meat, dairy, cereals). The world relies on us for to feed its population and keep a steady supply of food. The total cost of @6600 's bit of ham (or any type of meat) including feeding the animal, slaughter processing, transport and retailing was less than €10/kg. The farmer is lucky to see €4/kg for it and it costs him €3.80/kg to produce it. (20c/kg profit) The factory slaughterer/processor probably gets €8/kg for it and it costs him €6/kg to get it out his door onto the shelf. (so €2/kg profit) and the retailer gets €23/kg from it and it probably costs him €2/kg to transport and retail it meaning that he can have €13/kg in profit from it.
Now please don't criticise me on my figures above. I pulled both the retailer's and the processor's figures from my head. The only accurate figure is the farmer's figure. What it highlights is that, we as farmers, are well able to produce the food cheaply for our governments. There's loads of room in it for us to make a sustainable living. But somewhere along the line, the retailers and the processors have made themselves the most important people in the food production equation.
The government is indirectly controlling the price of food. But in doing this, they are controlling what the primary producer gets for it but have no control over the processors or the retailers.
Food would be very cheap all over the world if the processors and the retailers only got the same margin per kg as the farmers get!
Got sent a link to the beef plan on WhatsApp. I joined and it says I'm now an adim. If they find out I'm milking cows I'll be lynched.