In a new report, the 20,000 beef and sheep farmers in Northern Ireland have been told to cut their losses and find other work.
Red meat from South America is tough competition for farmers in Northern Ireland who cannot produce meat as cheaply. The Read Meat Task Force are asking that supermarkets pay more for meat from Northern Ireland but this is unlikely as the price NI farmers need for the meat they produce way exceeds that of their competitors in South America.
Whilst higher profits are to be gained by supermarkets and the like, once again, the negative environmental and social impacts are being ignored.
Most of the meat comes from Brazil, where already 70% of previous forest land has been cleared to make way for grazing animals. An increase in demand for Brazilian meat can only mean more destruction of the forests, plus the obvious impact on climate change from transporting the meat to Europe.
Farmers in Northern Ireland cannot produce meat cheaply enough for the supermarkets and their customers but buying meat from South America is obviously not the answer. We all just need to go veg, that’s the only way to solve this problem!
