Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority

The inherent nature of cattle farming with its long production cycle makes it difficult to control and predict beef supplies and prices. In Ireland, these inherent characteristics are further complicated by being heavily influenced by EU beef policy in relation to income support and export trading conditions. Major EU policy changes over the last twenty years have affected the export competitiveness of Irish beef. The WTO agreement in 1994 and the more recent international financial crises, especially in Russia, have severely constrained Irish beef exports to traditional and evolving markets in third countries. Various food safety issues, in particular the BSE crisis, have further accentuated the market imbalance in the EU. The decline in consumption combined with the re-nationalised EU beef market has impacted most severely on Irish beef. Teagasc, in conjunction with University College Dublin, has initiated research to establish how Ireland could develop a more strategic approach to the evolution of a single EU beef market. A number of joint working papers have been prepared on various aspects of EU policy for beef and their implications for cattle prices, direct payments and farm income in Ireland. To facilitate public discussion on these very important topics it has been decided t