The Irish Farmers Association 24-hour protest at beef factories across the State ended yesterday evening with a threat from the organisation that the protests will continue if the factories further decrease the prices they are paying farmers for their cattle.
The action by the IFA, which held protests at 27 beef plants across the country, led to a total shutdown of killing lines yesterday as farmers boycotted the plants and did not deliver cattle for processing.
The IFA president, Mr John Dillon, made his first public appearance since his accident a month ago, to address farmers who had gathered outside the Kildare Chilling Plant at Kildare town.
He said the IFA action over the previous 24 hours had sent a clear message to the beef processors that farmers were not going to produce beef at a loss to support factory owners.
"Factories are going to have to pay a viable price for the beef farmers produce or farmers will not stay in the business," he said.
Mr Cormac Healy, of Meat Industry Ireland, representing the beef factories, hit out at the IFA, accusing it of causing even more damage to the industry which is already under pressure from falling returns from the markets and imports from non-EU countries.
Mr Healy said the IFA action had led to a shutdown of the industry across the State.
At a time when the international meat industry was so competitive, this was severely damaging to the Irish industry, Mr Healy added.
He said farmers seemed to want to disregard the fact that the price producers received for their stock was determined by the returns from the international beef markets and the two were closely linked.
"Prices we have been able to get from the markets have been falling and that is being compounded by a drop in demand in our key European markets, and the fact that this is the time of the year when farmers have their cattle ready for market off grass," he said.
Mr Healy was also critical of the prices farmers had paid for young stock earlier in the year, saying that if producers paid too much for raw material they could not expect to make profit.
The IFA cannot picket or blockade meat plants because that would be in breach of competition law. However, the association has claimed that the farmer boycott of plants while protests are being held is the work of individual farmers, and is not being orchestrated by it.
The IFA added that in the last two months the factories have dropped the price they are paying for animals by 34c/kg (12p/lb) and that is costing farmers as much as €115 per animal. It claims farmers need to receive over 90p/lb to remain viable.