‘West of Ireland farmers need an income’
“I think Calleary’s appointment is a positive one. I was sorry to see Barry Cowen go on a personal basis. It’s great to have a minister in the west of Ireland. I’ve met with him a couple of times.
“He’s a person we can work with and look forward to working with him.
“We’re looking for fair play and an income for the west of Ireland for farmers. They’re very low for suckler, sheep and hill farmers.
“He has to deliver on CAP. We need schemes that we can buy into and schemes that leave a few quid for us – the farmer.
“Between the suckler cow scheme, REPS, the ewe scheme – these are very important to us in the west. They put food on the table for west of Ireland farmers.”
– Pat Murphy, suckler and dairy farmer, Ardrahan, Co Galway,
and IFA Connacht chair
‘We’ll be watching what they call REPS’
Gerry Carolan, chair, INHFA Mayo. \ Brian Farrell
“We’re long enough dealing with ministers that are a bit too representative of dairy farmers and bigger farmers.
“Our backs are against the wall down here. Dara will have to be proactive to make sure no one is hard done by.
“His electoral base would include mountainous areas. He needs to take a hard look at what’s happening. I know it’s a national job. I don’t expect him to be totally local, but the whole thing [farming] has to be looked at.
REPS can’t be used as a soother for farmers
“Let’s hope he goes for convergence. We need to call a spade a spade – convergence needs to go ahead. I understand that people are losing money, but it’s time for a level playing field,” he said.
Carolan added that there seems to be “a want to turn the west of Ireland into a national park” in terms of forestry.
“REPS can’t be used as a soother for farmers. We’ll be watching what they call REPS; we need a good scheme, not in name only. There needs to be a proper compensation package for designations.
“A farm retirement scheme would be a great bonus. Farming is not a job you want to be at late in life, but there’s many who are doing it.”
– Gerry Carolan, sheep farmer, Bangor Erris, Co Mayo, and
INHFA Mayo chair
‘There needs to be emphasis on the
active farmer’
“Minister Calleary comes from a rural part of the country so he should be a good representative for farmers and rural issues.
“He will need to put a lot of emphasis on the active or genuine farmer so that the payments go to them and not the armchair farmer. That will mean looking at some elements of the leasing of entitlements.”
– John Curran, organic beef and sheep farmer, Kells,
Co Meath, and Meath IFA chair
‘Pig sector needs protection from Brexit backlash’
Tommy Brady in his weaner house at the pig farm he runs with his brother Brian in Pottle, Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan.
“The main task Minister Calleary has is protecting the pig sector from any negative backlash from Brexit.
“We are still very reliant on the British market and a lot of key negotiations have yet to take place.
“We send all our pigs to the UK for slaughter in Cookstown, Co Tyrone.
“We were initially worried about difficulty in getting our pigs across the border post-Brexit, but it seems that has been resolved now.
“The minister must ensure we maintain good relations with the UK for the sake of fluid movement of goods across our island.”
– Tommy Brady, pig farmer, Ballyjamesduff,
Co Cavan
‘Minister must ensure beef farmers are paid for their cattle’
Tony McFarland, Newbliss, Co Monaghan.
“The new minister must ensure a better price for our beef cattle – prices have only risen 20c/kg in the past year. It’s very hard to keep going, working on the margins beef farmers are being offered at the minute. If you look at the sheep price and how factories are able to pay an extra euro per kilo all of a sudden, it really shows that a bit of scarcity rules all. Factories can pay a good price for cattle, but they won’t until they have to.
“Over €20m of the BEAM scheme wasn’t claimed for last year and was left behind. The minister can’t allow this to happen again with the new €50m beef scheme.
“Here in Monaghan, we have much greater challenges than the rest of the country. Our land is very hilly while much of the midlands is as flat as a plate. The minister needs to ensure disadvantaged payments are maintained to allow us to farm into the future.”
– Tony McFarland,
beef and sheep farmer,
Newbliss, Co Monaghan
‘Nitrates changes are slowly choking us’
“I want the new Minister for Agriculture to make sure farmers get more respect. We are food producers and I would like to see him recognise and get the general public to recognise the quality and reliability of the food we produce.
As a dairy farmer, I’m very concerned about nitrates. They are slowly choking us to death. They brought in a whole list of new things this year; low emissions, clover. Having 20% of clover in swards won’t work on my land. In a bad year you could lose 20% of your best ground if you had 20% clover in it.”
– Pat Buckley,
dairy farmer,
Abbeydorney, Co Kerry
‘Environmental change shouldn’t mean throwing the baby out with the bathwater’
Mitchell Hayes, Blarney, Co Cork.
“I’m a dairy farmer but from the sidelines looking in at the beef industry and prices, there is a transparency issue there.
“Brexit is the biggest threat to our industry and the UK is our biggest trading partner. We should not ignore them, we need to do business with them. We sell a hell of a lot of beef and cheese to the UK and that’s something that needs to be ironed out.
“I also want the minister to tackle the negativity that is there is some quarters to the agriculture industry. We do a lot of good stuff. Yes, there is some bad stuff and that should not be accepted, but we do a lot of good stuff and that should be highlighted.
“We have to get our house in order for the environment but that should not mean throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
“This talk of cutting emissions and cutting animal numbers – that would basically be doing away with an industry.
“There must be methods of using proper, well-researched science to develop the industry and reduce emissions. I want to see changes based on absolute rationality from people with no political motivations.”
– Mitchell Hayes,
Blarney, Co Cork
‘West of Ireland farmers need an income’
“I think Calleary’s appointment is a positive one. I was sorry to see Barry Cowen go on a personal basis. It’s great to have a minister in the west of Ireland. I’ve met with him a couple of times.
“He’s a person we can work with and look forward to working with him.
“We’re looking for fair play and an income for the west of Ireland for farmers. They’re very low for suckler, sheep and hill farmers.
“He has to deliver on CAP. We need schemes that we can buy into and schemes that leave a few quid for us – the farmer.
“Between the suckler cow scheme, REPS, the ewe scheme – these are very important to us in the west. They put food on the table for west of Ireland farmers.”
– Pat Murphy, suckler and dairy farmer, Ardrahan, Co Galway,
and IFA Connacht chair
‘We’ll be watching what they call REPS’
Gerry Carolan, chair, INHFA Mayo. \ Brian Farrell
“We’re long enough dealing with ministers that are a bit too representative of dairy farmers and bigger farmers.
“Our backs are against the wall down here. Dara will have to be proactive to make sure no one is hard done by.
“His electoral base would include mountainous areas. He needs to take a hard look at what’s happening. I know it’s a national job. I don’t expect him to be totally local, but the whole thing [farming] has to be looked at.
REPS can’t be used as a soother for farmers
“Let’s hope he goes for convergence. We need to call a spade a spade – convergence needs to go ahead. I understand that people are losing money, but it’s time for a level playing field,” he said.
Carolan added that there seems to be “a want to turn the west of Ireland into a national park” in terms of forestry.
“REPS can’t be used as a soother for farmers. We’ll be watching what they call REPS; we need a good scheme, not in name only. There needs to be a proper compensation package for designations.
“A farm retirement scheme would be a great bonus. Farming is not a job you want to be at late in life, but there’s many who are doing it.”
– Gerry Carolan, sheep farmer, Bangor Erris, Co Mayo, and
INHFA Mayo chair
‘There needs to be emphasis on the
active farmer’
“Minister Calleary comes from a rural part of the country so he should be a good representative for farmers and rural issues.
“He will need to put a lot of emphasis on the active or genuine farmer so that the payments go to them and not the armchair farmer. That will mean looking at some elements of the leasing of entitlements.”
– John Curran, organic beef and sheep farmer, Kells,
Co Meath, and Meath IFA chair
‘Pig sector needs protection from Brexit backlash’
Tommy Brady in his weaner house at the pig farm he runs with his brother Brian in Pottle, Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan.
“The main task Minister Calleary has is protecting the pig sector from any negative backlash from Brexit.
“We are still very reliant on the British market and a lot of key negotiations have yet to take place.
“We send all our pigs to the UK for slaughter in Cookstown, Co Tyrone.
“We were initially worried about difficulty in getting our pigs across the border post-Brexit, but it seems that has been resolved now.
“The minister must ensure we maintain good relations with the UK for the sake of fluid movement of goods across our island.”
– Tommy Brady, pig farmer, Ballyjamesduff,
Co Cavan
‘Minister must ensure beef farmers are paid for their cattle’
Tony McFarland, Newbliss, Co Monaghan.
“The new minister must ensure a better price for our beef cattle – prices have only risen 20c/kg in the past year. It’s very hard to keep going, working on the margins beef farmers are being offered at the minute. If you look at the sheep price and how factories are able to pay an extra euro per kilo all of a sudden, it really shows that a bit of scarcity rules all. Factories can pay a good price for cattle, but they won’t until they have to.
“Over €20m of the BEAM scheme wasn’t claimed for last year and was left behind. The minister can’t allow this to happen again with the new €50m beef scheme.
“Here in Monaghan, we have much greater challenges than the rest of the country. Our land is very hilly while much of the midlands is as flat as a plate. The minister needs to ensure disadvantaged payments are maintained to allow us to farm into the future.”
– Tony McFarland,
beef and sheep farmer,
Newbliss, Co Monaghan
‘Nitrates changes are slowly choking us’
“I want the new Minister for Agriculture to make sure farmers get more respect. We are food producers and I would like to see him recognise and get the general public to recognise the quality and reliability of the food we produce.
As a dairy farmer, I’m very concerned about nitrates. They are slowly choking us to death. They brought in a whole list of new things this year; low emissions, clover. Having 20% of clover in swards won’t work on my land. In a bad year you could lose 20% of your best ground if you had 20% clover in it.”
– Pat Buckley,
dairy farmer,
Abbeydorney, Co Kerry
‘Environmental change shouldn’t mean throwing the baby out with the bathwater’
Mitchell Hayes, Blarney, Co Cork.
“I’m a dairy farmer but from the sidelines looking in at the beef industry and prices, there is a transparency issue there.
“Brexit is the biggest threat to our industry and the UK is our biggest trading partner. We should not ignore them, we need to do business with them. We sell a hell of a lot of beef and cheese to the UK and that’s something that needs to be ironed out.
“I also want the minister to tackle the negativity that is there is some quarters to the agriculture industry. We do a lot of good stuff. Yes, there is some bad stuff and that should not be accepted, but we do a lot of good stuff and that should be highlighted.
“We have to get our house in order for the environment but that should not mean throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
“This talk of cutting emissions and cutting animal numbers – that would basically be doing away with an industry.
“There must be methods of using proper, well-researched science to develop the industry and reduce emissions. I want to see changes based on absolute rationality from people with no political motivations.”
– Mitchell Hayes,
Blarney, Co Cork
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