A new EU ruling outlining increased price reporting obligations on processors and retailers, has been welcomed by the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA).
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue signed into law a new statutory instrument which aims to impose reporting obligations on processors and retailers under Irish law.
ICSA president Dermot Kelleher said: “For the first time processors will not only be obliged to report data on prices paid to farmers for their cattle and sheep but they will also be obliged to supply information relating to the onward sale of that product to wholesalers and retailers.
”Mr Kelleher described the move as marking a step forward on the road to greater transparency along the entirety of the food chain.“
For too long the profit margins on key products such as beef and lamb have been shrouded in secrecy.
There is no question that this had this had resulted in massive profiteering off the backs of our hard-working primary producers,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, the ICSA president said that a separate Unfair Trading Practices (UTP) directive, which was signed into Irish law earlier this year was “a step in the right direction” and he called for a regulator for the beef sector to be established.
“The next step must be the establishment of a dedicated beef regulator. The legislation announced paves the way for this, but it requires even further legislation,” he added.