Support marts or lose them
Support marts or lose them
RED meat producers have been warned to support auction markets and help them to change – or risk losing them.
Les Armstrong, chairman of the NFUs livestock committee, told a seminar at AgriVision that sheep and cattle farmers faced a similar choice to the one dairymen had a few years ago, when milk producers had to decide whether or not to stick with co-operative marketing.
Now sheep and cattle farmers had to decide whether to support auction markets or sell primestock deadweight.
He said auction markets acted as a co-operative selling system and it would be a mistake to lose that.
Although a staunch supporter of markets, Mr Armstrong said improvements could be made by selling animals more efficiently. He suggested there was a need for a more streamlined selling system that targeted animals to buyers needs, so the right product got to the right buyer as often as possible.
Primestock marketing faced the greatest challenge. "The first thing it must address is the drift to selling deadweight," he said. But processors had done little to win the trust of producers over the past eight months, he added.
"The abattoir sector passed extra charges and costs back to producers at every opportunity. It had a chance to forge lasting relationships with farmers and it hasnt done this."
According to Mr Armstrong, there would be changes in the way markets operated, including tighter biosecurity and traceability rules, but markets were well placed to apply these.
The 20-day rule would "strangle the industry" if it remained in place, he added.
But the industry must find a creditable alternative before DEFRA would allow animal movements without restriction. *