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Feed mills have been called on to reduce ration prices immediately by IFA input project team leader John Coughlan.
Coughlan said compound feed prices were out of line with ingredient costs. He also referenced the perilous state of the beef finishing sector.
Coughlan said: “Many compound feed mills are not reflecting the significant reduction in cereal prices, which unfortunately for tillage farmers are back by as much as €50/t.
“The failure by the mills to pass through the significant reduction in cereal costs is indicative of a major swing by compound feed manufacturers, over recent years, away from the use of native cereals to imported maize and by-products.”
Native grain
He said the move potentially undermined the provenance of Irish food production at a time when there was an increased focus on carbon footprint.
“The feed sector has a duty to maximise native cereals. It has been shown time after time that livestock rations that include a high level of quality native Irish cereals consistently outperform many compound feed rations based on least cost formulations, which invariably use high levels of imported by-products,” Coughlan said.
Irish cereal production had an extremely low carbon footprint and enhanced biodiversity compared to imported feed ingredients, Coughlan concluded.
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