THE DECLINE in the Irish beef-producing herd and the fact that beef farmers are using their EU payments to subsidise production will be addressed today at the Teagasc national beef conference.
The conference at Cillin Hill, Kilkenny, will be opened by Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney and a major turnout of farmers from the 75,000 beef farms across the State is expected.
The conference will attempt to reconcile the plan to dramatically increase beef production here by 2020 with the fact that the national beef suckler herd is in decline.
From a high of nearly 1.5 million suckler cows in 1985, the national beef herd has fallen to just under 1.16 million animals in 2009 when the value of output was €1.5 billion, representing 38 per cent of total agricultural output.
The most recent figures compiled by Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, showed profitability on beef farms was extremely low with average family farm income in 2009 at just €221 per hectare.