Laois farmers are being encouraged to attend a meeting in Rathdowney this evening as the organisers behind a new Beef Plan continue to ramp up support across the country.
The Beef plan are holding a registration night at the show ground in Rathdowney tonight from 8pm to 9.30pm.
People can come along and register and can the avail of their purchasing group.
This will give people access to deals on fuel, insurance, electricity and more.
The group have sent a submission to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine on the future of the beef sector.
The submission calls for a full appraisal of the current QPS (Quality Pricing System) grid to simplify it and have greater increments for premium cattle – as it has patently failed in its original intention.
A call for review of the QPS (commonly called QA) bonus and its association with the associated “market” specifications was also included.
It was noted that – the landscape has changed considerably since 2009. There has been a significant decline in steers obtaining R grade over this period with it being 44% in 2009 compared to 30% in 2018.
For this reason, the group say then review is necessary to reflect current throughput with respect to grades, fat scores and animal type compared to when the grid was introduced.
Over 300 people attended the last meeting of this group back in December 2018 and similar numbers are expected this evening.
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