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I doubt decision makers pay much attention to a few headline prices in the farming press. They need evidence to support policy decisions, much of which will he derided from official economic statistics analysed over a 5-10 year period.
I remember attending a CAP meeting organised by our Department of Agriculture in NI a few years back, just before area payments came in over here. There were some arguments made by farmers about the need for coupled payments to be reintroduced as they argued it was getting harder and harder to make a living from suckler cows. The farmers said they were all going to go out of business if the economics didn’t improve. In response the official pulled out a graph which showed that since payments were decoupled in 2005, suckler cow numbers had been on a gradual increase over the 10 year period. The official said why would they subsidise a sector which appeared to be growing.
We all as farmers know that suckler beef is a low margin sector but unless there is evidence that a lot of those farms are going out of business, the reality is those officials will pay little attention and let the market take its course until something major happens.
It’s the same for sheep, as long as we keep producing, government policy is unlikely to change much apart from the ongoing pursuit of new markets and improved standards.
Most of us love our job too much to give up or change and do something else. The officials know this too.
I think arguments around sheep and Brexit have been well made and are well understood by officials. But it’s a low priority in the bigger Brexit picture. The officials will only react after the worst happens unfortunately.
I'm sure what you say is true enough, but an old pal of mine was negotiating in whitehall the week a blackie tup first crossed £50k. MAFF bigwig stopped the team up short, saying 'how can you be skint when.....etc etc'
I'm sure it didn't make a lot of difference at the end of the day, but it did have to be explained.