Attendees at a recent RDS and Teagasc webinar on organics were updated that that the Irish organic beef sector is “losing value” when suckler animals leave a certified organic holding and enter into the conventional beef sector at the weanling stage.
Good Herdsmen’s John Purcell explained that the Irish Government’s target of increasing the area under organics to 7.5% of the farmed area would mean an extra 14,000 cattle per year entering the system on top of the current 11,000.
He added that the organic price premium currently being paid to Irish organic beef finishers is 15% more than the price their animals would achieve on the grid in a conventional factory.
Purcell went on to say that the price of organic beef relative to that of conventional beef fluctuates – having been approximately €1/kg when beef prices were lower.
“Now, it is currently about 15%, but it is so hard to follow. We try to park the conventional prices if we can,” he concluded.