The organisations will host a meeting for producers and other stakeholders at the Barnawartha Soldiers Memorial Hall on Monday.

The organisers allege the buyers boycotted the saleyards until post-sale weighing of cattle was introduced.

A pre-sale system operated at the Bandiana saleyards.

VFF livestock president Ian Feldtmann said the situation was not just about the Barnawartha boycott.

“The reality is the boycott is just a symptom of processors’ gaining too much market muscle,” he said.

Mr Feldtmann said the issue of processors’ market power needed to be taken further, but warned there were no quick fixes to the problem.

The VFF claims up to eight processors boycotted the North East Victoria Livestock Exchange’s sale on Tuesday last week, which reportedly wiped 20c/kg to 30c/kg off the price of some lines of cattle and led to one-third of export-weight cattle being passed in.

It claims the processors’ boycott was driven by their refusal to accept pre-sale weighing of cattle at the yards.

“It’s time these processors accounted for their actions,” Mr Feldtmann said.

He said NSW Farmers and VFF were holding crisis talks to discuss what action to take to ensure the long-term viability of beef producers.

The organisations have also called for a Senate inquiry into what it calls increasing market consolidation in the red meat processing sector.

NSW Farmers Cattle Committee chairman Derek Schoen said the action at the saleyards had renewed its concern about the Australian Competition and Con- sumer Commission’s (ACCC) recent decision on JBS.

NSWF said it allowed further concentration in the red meat processing sector with the acquisition of Australian Consolidated Food Investments Pty Ltd (Primo) by JBS USA Holdings (JBS).

Mr Schoen said NSW Farmers and the VFF believed a Senate inquiry would give farmers an opportunity to give evidence without fear of reprisal from processors.

“Our farmers’ ability to get a fair price for the produce is dependent upon competitive tension in the market place,” he said.

Mr Feldtmann said an inquiry needed to explore why retail red meat prices have soared, without a similar rise in saleyard prices.