There are a number of threats facing small to medium sized beef farmers. Beef and sheep meat are especially vulnerable to cost-benefit analysis involving the EU.

Professor Alan Matthews made a very strong case for a change in land use from livestock to forestry, based on Ireland's EU climate change commitments.

Though Matthews is Professor Emeritus of European agricultural policy at Trinity College Dublin, this is not idle academic pontification – Matthews sits on the recently formed Climate Change advisory Council, which is tasked with overseeing Ireland’s transition to a low carbon economy.