A-Z: what happened in farming in 2024

A – ACRES scheme

The issues in the Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) from 2023 have persisted into this year.

Payments under the scheme, which have been delayed due to issues in processing payments for the conservation of rare breeds action, will now be paid quicker.

B – Bluetongue

Irish beef, sheep and dairy farmers continue to watch the unfolding issues in Britain and on the continent in relation to bluetongue.

Imports from Britain continue to be banned, as a restricted zone and infected area now extends down the eastern side of England.

C – China exports

A Department of Agriculture trade mission to China brought some optimism to the dairy and beef sectors, which has since soured.

Only a matter of weeks after the trade mission, beef exports to the Asian country were suspended for the third time in six years due to a discovery of atypical BSE in an animal at an Irish knackery.

In dairy, Ireland applied orally for its derogation in early December.

E – Elections

The last year has been packed to the brim with elections. The IFA elected a new treasurer in Patrick McCormack and committee chairs John Curran and Teresa Roche in January. Then, in December, Martin McElearney became dairy committee chair.

On a more national scale, local council elections were held where 949 county and city seats were up for grabs. This ran simultaneously with the European elections, where 14 seats in the European parliament were contested.

The biggest election of the year was held in November, with talks still ongoing over farmers unsure about how much fertiliser they could buy.

Although, some co-ops have on-the-spot updates, others have been found to update on a monthly basis or even less frequently than that.

This has proved taxing for farmers, as planning is necessary to avoid penalties.

G – GDT

The Global Dairy Trade (GDT) gave farmers a big shock on 2 July after its price index suddenly fell by 6.9%.

Figures had been steadily rising since August 2023, when the auction hit its lowest index since 2018. However, this sudden plummet in value this summer was a blow to dairy confidence.

Fortunately, the price drop has begun to look more like a blip, as the GDT price index has rebounded by over 14% since July and milk prices rebounded in the back end.

H – Hansen, Christophe Hansen

In September, Ursula von der Leyen announced her next college of commissioners for Europe.

She nominated Luxembourg’s Christophe Hansen to the role of commissioner for agriculture and food.

He will unveil a “future vision” for EU agriculture that will set the backdrop for CAP changes post-2027 within his first 100 days in the job. He has also been tasked with outlining a means of further safeguarding farmers from unfair trading practices along the supply chain.

I – Inheritance tax

UK farmers took to the streets in protest throughout November and December after the Labour government introduced a new inheritance tax.

It will see a tax-free threshold of £1m (€1.2m) for agricultural properties, with a 20% tax rate applying to the value of assets after that.

The protests included an overnight blockade of tractors at Holyhead Port and rallies outside Holyrood House, Edinburgh, and the streets of London.

J – JBS performance

The world’s number one beef and poultry meat processor and second largest for pork recorded an adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization) of $2.1bn (€2bn), a margin of 10.8% on global revenue of $19.9bn (€18.8bn).

This EBITDA was almost double the €1bn it was in the same period of 2023.

K – Kerry Co-op takeover

Kerry Co-op voted on 16 December to take over the dairy processing arm of Kerry Group in a deal worth €500m.

The agreement will also see the long-running leading milk price dispute settled.

L – Limousin-cross heifer calf makes big money

At the Winter Fair in Carrick-on-Shannon, one farmer received an eye-watering €30,000 for a Limousin-cross heifer calf.

Nevan McKiernan said the 345kg young heifer impressed spectators with her style and presence.

It was a good payday for Galway farmer Derrick Forde, who also sold a red and white Belgian Blue heifer calf for €19,000 at Stranorlar Mart only a few weeks earlier.

M – Mercosur ‘split’

New fears arose in the longstanding EU-Mercosur deal, as it emerged that the EU could help force through the deal by separating the trade component from the other parts of the agreement.

This ‘split’ process could bypass national parliaments, denying member states such as Ireland a say in a trade deal with Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia and Paraguay.

Lack of clarity on how the deal would be processed also led to Irish MEPs Micheál McNamara and Michael Mullooly abstaining from voting for the new college of commissioners.

N – National farm survey

A worrying statistic from the Teagasc national farm survey is the number of farms in Ireland considered unviable.

Viability is determined by putting family labour at or above minimum wage and when sufficient income is generated to provide an additional 5% return on non-land-based assets.

Only 27% of farms were deemed economically viable in 2023 compared with 43% the previous year.

These figures were seen most starkly in the tillage, sheep and beef sectors, where 34%, 27% and only 23% of farms were viable respectively.

O – Organic conversions

After the government announced a budget of €57m for the 2024 Organic Farming Scheme, many small and part-time farmers have taken the plunge into the sector.

Many tillage and beef farmers have converted to organic, but figures show that 40% of the current 5,000 farmers in the scheme have sheep as their primary enterprise.

Some farmers speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal said that the conversion allowed them to receive a better price for meat without doing much extra work.

P – Protected urea

Farmers have been testing out Teagasc's advice to switch fully to protected urea; approximately 27% of total nitrogen fertiliser use in 2024 was protected urea, according to Frank O’Meara.

Teagasc research from trials at Johnstown Castle in Co Wexford shows that there is no significant difference between grass dry matter yield when comparing CAN with protected urea.

Farmers might have to get on board with the idea after the agricultural water quality working group recommended that unprotected urea should be banned from sale next year.

Q – Quad bikes

Farm safety regulation changes came into force this year, such as helmets being legally required for operators of quads.

As it is now a legal requirement to wear a helmet, farmers are no longer able to apply for a 60% financial contribution for a new quad bike helmet in the National Farm Safety Measure, which was available in the 2023 scheme.

In addition, a Kerry farmer who got a quad bike helmet in the 2023 scheme was denied payment because he paid for the equipment with cash.

R – Retirement scheme or the lack thereof

As described by outgoing Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Pippa Hackett, one of the “big failings” of the last government was that it did not set up a farm retirement scheme.

As the campaign trail ploughed on, many political parties promised a scheme that would help older farmers retire and give young stock their chance.

We will have to wait until 2025 to see if that comes to fruition.

S – Straw scheme

One of the major controversies of the year was when Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue looked to suspend the Straw Incorporation Measure in July, with many farmers already chopping straw.

This was met with widespread criticism from farmers, farm associations and his government colleagues Martin Heydon and Pippa Hackett.

Within a week, the Minister had made a full U-turn on the decision so farmers could stay in the scheme and receive their payment for incorporation as normal or they could withdraw from the scheme and receive a payment for baling instead.

T – TB reactors

The number of bovine tuberculosis (TB) reactors has exceeded 40,000 this year with almost 6,000 herds around the country locked up due to positive tests.

Meanwhile, cases of TB hit record levels in Northern Ireland in September with a 1.16% animal incident rate that month.

With IFA meetings taking place the length and breadth of the country, usually the first question from any farmers mouth is: “What will be done about TB?”

U – US election

The US presidential election in November saw the re-election of Donald Trump to the White House, which has brought some worries about future exports across the Atlantic.

In a bid to promote businesses in America, Trump has promised higher tariffs on foreign exports. This poses a problem for Ireland, as the US is a major market for Irish dairy exports, accounting for €467m of sales from January to August 2024, €16m of pigmeat and €11m of beef/offal.

V – Veterinary medicine bill

Co-operatives, vets and merchants have all expressed their concerns with the new Veterinary medicine bill which Minister McConalogue signed the commencement order for in October.

The bill will bring into operation an online national database for recording vet prescriptions to farms and the requirement for retailers to get a veterinary prescription in order to supply antimicrobials.

These changes will come into effect next year, but some individuals have criticised the lack of clarity in the bill which could lead to privacy issues, as well as there being less competition in the market, allowing prices to stay high.

W - Weather

Ireland has experienced nearly every type of weather this year.

A very wet spring meant farmers had to keep their stock inside until nearly April. This was followed by bad grass growth during prolonged dry periods in July and August. The ground hardened in many areas, so when the next bout of heavy rain fell, it led to flooding.

The close of the year turned in farmers' favour, with many farms being able to keep their livestock out until late November.

Having survived storm Ashley and storm Bert, farmers look forward to 2025 being a better year.

X – Big X

A 2019 Krone 630 Big X forage harvester with 1,080 hours topped a retiring Tipperary contractor’s auction, selling for €157,500 in November.

With 134 lots going under the hammer, the sale achieved a clearance rate of 98%. 1.9m tonnes of cereals were produced this year, which is 300,000t below Ireland’s five-year average.

Spring barley yielded exceptionally well, despite the fact that the majority of crops were planted in late April and May.

Winter crops disappointed for many. They were unable to recover from the wet autumn of 2023 when many crops lost large areas to the wet.

Z – Zwartbles sheep

It was a strong year for Zwartbles sheep farmers. It began with some black-fleeced breeds, also including Blue Texel and Dutch Spotted, recording 10% to 20% growth in February at the Sheep Ireland LambPlus programme.

2024 was rounded out at the Zwartbles ewe lamb sales at Borderway Mart, Carlisle, where two sheep, including a strong shearling ewe named Hayberries Lucy Liu, sold at the high price of 2,000gns (€2,520).