Mr. Sean Coughlan:

It has been flagged for some time that these changes were coming in. In November 2022, the changes were implemented on the dairy side. There are two beef indexes on the dairy side. We updated the dairy indexes and brought in similar changes to those we brought in on the beef side. Had we not done that on the dairy side already, and done the beef side first, it would be reasonable to assume the beef farmers might feel aggrieved that we had started with beef and not dairy. That was one of the points. We, therefore, started with dairy and these changes were coming forward.

I will leave it to my colleague, Dr. Crosson, to discuss the updates to the changes. The indexes are updated on an ongoing basis. If input costs have increased by 47% over recent years, the indexes have to reflect that. Dr. Crosson will cover some of that around the updates to the economic model and then I can come back on the process around how they were implemented.