A LEADING beef industry figure has hit out at a summit held in July designed to tackle the sector’s woes and the attitude of Government towards farmers’ problems.

Chris Mallon, national director of the National Beef Association (NBA), is calling for an adjudicator to be appointed to address the concerns of farmers and producers across a number of sectors.

He said following the summit, when a number of industry leaders met Farming Minister George Eustice, he asked the Minister to consider introducing an adjudicator to tackle concerns about the ongoing price slump, only to be “ignored” on the issue.

Mr Mallon said: “We sent a letter on this matter in June and have only now received a response in which the Minister says he is too busy to look at it.

“Voluntary codes are all well and good but we need something, such as an adjudicator, to protect primary producers.

“The beef summit achieved little.

“Cattle got short on supply and prices went up.

“The beef summit did not do anything to help prices – supply and demand issues did.

“We are heading for 2015 with prices rising and supply tightening, so the market is now completely different.”

A Defra spokesman said the Minister received a lot of letters and replied as soon as he could.

He said: “As a result of the summit, the NFU and the British Meat Processors’ Association are developing a code of practice to increase transparency.

“We are working with the AHDB and the Farm Animal Genetic Resources Committee to look at ways to improve productivity and profitability in the sector through genetic improvements and breeding strategies.”