IFA President Tim Cullinan has requested that the government urgently provide details on how it intends to support pig farmers hit by the most severe income crisis in nearly 20 years.
The association says that the latest drop in pig price and the increase in feed costs means that every pig produced on Irish farms is losing over €35. A pig farmer with 500 sows is currently racking up losses of €10,000 per week.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue addressed a meeting in Dublin this week which was attended by over 150 farmers. He committed to the provision of government support in the form of direct aid for pig farmers.
Tim Cullinan expressed the need for haste to act: “Pig farmers will go to the wall if they’re not supported. We have put a number of proposals to the Minister and his Government colleagues, including the Tánaiste at a meeting yesterday. If there isn’t immediate action, the pig sector will not survive,” he said.
Cullinan stated that retail regulation was long overdue, and that a ban on below-cost selling has to be revisited.
“This government cannot stand by any longer. A food regulator is needed to take on the retailers and re-balance the food chain. Producers have to get a margin to keep them viable,” he added.
IFA Pigs Chairman Roy Gallie said each stakeholder must work to safeguard the sector from losing more pig producers, who are price takes and only receive what is left over after processor and retailer margins are taken.
Gallie said that pig farmers cannot carry the cost of the unprecedented crisis alone.
LSL News.