Sheep farmers facing income crisis - teagasc
The state agency for agriculture and food production, Teagasc, has brought forward a stark figure concerning the price of sheep being delivered to the processors in Ireland. It becomes even more alarming when it is taken into account that the figure of just €7 per ewe includes the Sheep Welfare Payment.
The review also reveals that prices have tumbled by over 80% leaving the primary producers facing significant losses on their activities.
What is worse about this situation, the chairman of the IFA Sheep Committee, Kevin Comiskey, comments, is that this collapse in prices had been signalled well and advance in the market predictions put out by Bord Bia.
Read the full story in Kerry’s Eye Digital Edition.
Beef sector angry at gulf in prices
The Chairman of the Beef Committee at the ICSA, Edmund Graham, says that there is a very similar situation in his sector as the processors continue to drive prices down even as returns in our closest market are running at around one-third higher (VAT exclusive) at the current time.
“In the past three months, UK steer price has increased steadily by 35 cents per kilo whereas our price has stagnated,” he said.
He too refers to the figures presented by Teagasc which calculates the cost of production at €6 per kilogram per beast. But this is simply not being achieved and at this point, beef producers are only emerging from the part of the year when the costs of fostering and nurturing their animals are at their highest.
Read the full story in Kerry’s Eye Digital Edition.
