EU regulations unfairly threaten $200m exports
A European Union regulation ensuring that the products its citizens consume do not contribute to deforestation or forest degradation worldwide threatens $200m of New Zealand beef and leather exports.
Irish sheep and beef farmers are blaming Britain’s planned exit from the European Union (Brexit) for lower-than-normal prices for their stock.
Farmers spoken to at recent sheep and cattle marts in the west of Ireland, near the city of Galway, blamed the uncertainty over Brexit for low prices.
Patrick Canny, who runs 700 mountain sheep in the vicinity of the town of Maam Cross, says the Brexit issue is not helping the situation.
Tom Connolly, who runs beef cattle near the town of Moycullen, echoes these views, saying it is virtually unprofitable to farm these days given the low prices. Like others he see Brexit as the culprit because it is affecting the value of sterling versus the euro.
These sentiments are shared by Joe Healy, the president of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA), who notes that Brexit has created a vacuum of uncertainty because no one has any idea of what the terms will be for Britain’s exit from the EU.
Healy says in Ireland processors have taken advantage of Brexit and the move in currency and are trying to drop prices way below what could be justified.
The beef market for Ireland is very important because at least 90% of production is exported.
Eamon Nee runs about 300 ewes on the steep rocky hillsides of Connemara, where it’s sometimes hard to distinguish the mountain sheep from the rocky outcrops and heather they shelter near. He says it’s been a terrible year.
“Our store lambs trade is on the floor at the moment, some of this is due to bad weather in the form of incessant heavy rain. The wet has ruined the grain harvest and this has had a knock-on effect,” Nee told Rural News.
“Our lambs go up to the better land to be finished and the prices at present are poor. Prices for our mountain store lambs range from 30 to 40 euros, whereas last year we were getting 40 to 50 euros. So it’s a considerable drop,” he says.
To add to his woes, the coarse hill wool his sheep produce is getting a mere 50 cents/kg which Nee says is poor. With the low prices, he is being forced to seek additional work off the farm to make a living.
His great fear is that the younger generation of sheep farmers will walk away from the tradition of running hill country farms like his.
“We fear down the road that the younger generations will not do this hard work; some just want an easy life and this isn’t. But it’s important that sheep are run on these mountains because they keep the environment in good condition,” he says.
Profitability issues facing arable farmers are the same across the world, says New Zealand's special agricultural trade envoy Hamish Marr.
Over 85% of Fonterra farmer suppliers will be eligible for customer funding up to $1,500 for solutions designed to drive on-farm efficiency gains and reduce emissions intensity.
Tighter beef and lamb production globally have worked to the advantage of NZ, according to the Meat Industry Association (MIA).
Groundswell is ramping up its 'Quit Paris' campaign with signs going up all over the country.
Some farmers in the Nelson region are facing up to five years of hard work to repair their damaged properties caused by the recent devastating floods.
Federated Farmers is joining major industry-good bodies in not advocating for the Government to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.
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