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Reductions to the in-spec bonus payment should be broken out across the four criteria, rather than being 'fail-one, fail-all', Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) livestock chair Des Morrison has said.
If an animal did not meet one of the four criteria, the bonus should be reduced by 25%, rising to 50% if two were not met and so on, Morrison said.
“So many farmers have contacted me to criticise the situation around the four in-spec criteria, whereby if an animal fails under any one of the four, then the whole bonus goes. That’s blatantly unfair because that should be proportionate.”
Interim change
He said the ICMSA’s objection to the grid was well-known, but he accepted an in-depth review would take time.
In the interim, a change to proportional reductions would address the lack of confidence expressed by farmers, Morrison believed.
Another area he said required more transparency was the kill statement provided to farmers.
Morrison said it should set out which criteria the animal had failed: “It’s very notable that all levies are itemised at the bottom of the statements, but the information around the payment of in-spec bonuses is very sketchy and varies from factory to factory, with some omitting it completely."
Transparency
He said it was the reluctance to set out how the price has been arrived at that was at the heart of the distrust from farmers.
“I’ve never heard a farmer complain that he got too much information from the factory, but there are too many to count who’ve complained that they never receive an explanation about the price their animals were killed out at,” he concluded.
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