FARMER FOCUS: Northern Ireland set to lose on CAP

Santa has been and gone but unfortunately he has not helped the slipping price of beef in Northern Ireland.
Credit goes to Tesco, which has an Angus scheme here and I got 431p/kg in November. The down side is they were light as I was worried about fat cover.
What we now need is a quality suckler beef brand paid on the same basis. They can sell phones and insurance why not hide and offal? Take note meat factories. The middleman may not be required in years to come.
CAP reform has taken up a lot of time and debate in Northern Irealnd. The only thing I know for sure is lowland beef will lose out and non-active farmers will gain hugely, maybe as much as 370%. Surely this is unfair? Taking money away from the area it supposed to help farming and farming families.
Minister O’Neil has finally decided at some stage this year to make bovine viral diarrhoea testing compulsory. Well done. This is a step in the right direction.
A favourite talking point is the weather, but Boxing Day night I believe was particularly bad. We lost sheets of perspex and sheets of tin. I say believe because we flew to Poland for a few days.
It is a marvellous country, with friendly people, and lots of acres. Certainly a place I intend to go and have a closer look at. I even had a remarkable-tasting steak. We do produce a great product in the UK, but so can other countries and probably cheaper. Let’s not rest on our laurels and get out there and market UK food and our unique growing, rearing, processing and traceability.
I’m looking forward to catching up with my two fellow Farmer Focus writers at our grassland conference; James Evans and Robert Craig, who will be guest speakers. See you guys soon, and to the rest of the Farmers Weekly family have a great year in whatever you do and try and think outside the box.
samuelwchesney@hotmail.com
@samchesney1
Sam Chesney runs a spring-calving herd of 120 Limousin cross sucklers in Kircubbin, Northern Ireland. He was 2011 Farmers Weekly Beef Farmer of the Year
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