Santander backs Livestock Three Million programme
24/09/2010
In an effort to boost production, the various bodies have come together to form a consortium called Livestock Three Million.
Its newly elected president, Rodrigo Goñi, said at the launch: "Livestock Three Million has been born out of necessity. We are short of raw material. But I would also say, on behalf of the 16 packer firms represented here, that we have launched this project for other reasons too. After more than two years of stops and starts and overcoming doubts, prejudice and suspicion, we have decided to take this path of working together. There are powerful companies involved here, and we could all have gone after the small individual benefit we could have achieved from something like this, but we have decided to take the long view and go for something much more innovative."
The idea is to make it easier for packers to source livestock by making it easier for livestock farmers to get paid. Farmers have to undertake to sign up to cattle traceability programmes. Once they have done so, they are free to sell their cattle at any time. They will be paid in cash 45 days sooner than at the moment and will be encouraged to avail themselves of a finance deal from Banco Santander to invest in expanding their herds.
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