IFA to meet Minister McConalogue on proposals for pig sector
Print29 March 2022
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) is to meet with the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue tonight (Tuesday) to discuss proposals to secure the future of the pig sector.
The IFA held a protest today regarding the stark future of the pig sector, which was attended by the Minister who spoke with IFA president Tim Cullinan, the chair of the IFA Pigs Committee Roy Gallie and pig farmers.
Tim Cullinan said the sector’s entire future hangs in the balance and there has to be urgent government action to support pig farmers.
“We are staring into the abyss here,” Cullinan said. “Our pig sector is an important part of agriculture in this country, contributing nearly €1bn in exports. However, the sector cannot survive a projected loss of €160m in 2022.”
Roy Gallie said the situation could not be more stark. “We are caught in a devastating price/cost squeeze,” he said. “Some farmers have already culled breeding sows and more are suspending production. They cannot produce with losses of over €50 per pig, and rising.”
“If the Government wants a pig sector, it must act now,” Gallie added. “We are at the point where farmers are exiting. If more go, then the upstream and downstream businesses become unviable and then the sector will be gone. It is that serious.”
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