As part of its budget submission, a farm group has called on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, to allocate funding for the development of a suckler brand.
The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) said it made a “strong” case to the minister for funding to be made available to commence the development of a naturally-reared suckler branded product.
INHFA president, Colm O’Donnell said the provision of such funding would honour the commitment given by the newly established Beef Market Taskforce.
“The INHFA lobbied hard within the taskforce to get this commitment agreed at the Backweston talks and it must now become a priority for implementation and also to safeguard the integrity of the taskforce agreement “.
‘Deliver added-value’
“We [INHFA] have registered an objection with the taskforce chairman highlighting the fact that nothing has happened surrounding the development of a suckler brand to date and that we will not withdraw our objection until this commitment is delivered upon “.
“INHFA have in their budget submission looked for somewhere in the region of €3-€4 million to kick-start the brand development process and hope that the minister will look favourably on this request.”
“The development of a suckler brand beef label has the potential to deliver value-added premium to the producers of our naturally reared suckler beef and to our suckler farmers.” the farm leader concluded.
