THE IRISH CATTLE AND SHEEP FARMERS’ ASSOCIATION, NEW ACTIVE CONTRIBUTOR TO FARM EUROPE

Farm Europe welcome ICSA as a new member and active contributor. This cooperation enables the think tank to gather more expertise on the EU livestock sector’s challenges and potential. If the EU is willing to materialise the ideal of the CAP as a lever for a lively agriculture all across the continent, it has to integrate the specificity and needs of the EU livestock sector – and the EU beef sector in particular. Furthermore, this fruitful collaboration will strengthen the grassroots of the reflection process of Farm Europe which aims at delivering concrete solutions.

Mr. Kent, ICSA’ President, said: « the EU beef meat sector is at a turning point. Taking into account the expansion of the dairy herd and global competition, it’s urgent to step up our policy at EU level, to build a sustainable future for our livestock sector in all its diversity. The beef sector has been set aside for too long. It has to come back at the core of EU priorities, not only defending the sector in global trade competition but also by setting a clear and ambitious strategy within the EU, where finding new ways of making livestock farms much more profitable must be the key objective ».

In 2017, Farm Europe will continue developing its work focusing on the beef sector, including in the context of the Omnibus regulation tabled recently by the European Commission and the food chain initiative launched by Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Phil Hogan, in the wake of the report presented mid-November by the Agricultural Market Task Force. Building a new ambition for the EU meat sector is at the core of Farm Europe’s activities. In order to take advantage of the opportunities, which the EU livestock sector clearly offers, a new ambition is needed and this partnership with ICSA is the important step for concrete and forward-looking advancements on the issue.