'The power is not with the farmer'

“The lad doing the work, toiling daily, lambing ewes, calving cows, dropping the kids to school and collecting them, that’s who I always have in my mind when I’m representing farmers,” said IFA presidential candidate Henry Burns. “I wear my heart on my sleeve a little, but that’s what conjures up the passion I have for bettering the lives of farmers.”

Henry Burns is indeed an open book. A big, affable, ball of energy, he has chaired two committees over the last decade – the sheep committee and now the more high-profile livestock committee. Does he bear some culpability for the scandals that have so damaged the organisation?

“No, I don’t believe I do – nor do the other commodity chairmen,” he said. “My focus was always to represent the views of my committee as strongly as possible at the executive council meetings. Cattle farmers from all over the country feed their views into that committee, and it’s my responsibility to make sure that the work gets done by the IFA on their behalf. To be honest, that took all my effort and time.”

How much time? “I spent at least part of the day away from the farm on 200 days in 2014,” he answers.

Was that well rewarded? “There is a labour replacement charge – it’s €100 for eight hours or more away from the farm in a day. I got €13,270 [gross] in total for 2014.”

He also racked up over 20,000 miles on IFA work, getting mileage of about €10,000. “You wouldn’t do it for the money, that’s for sure,” he quipped. “That’s what’s so damaging about all the stuff that’s going on now – the motives of ordinary men and women who represent farmers are being questioned. We have to restore confidence.”

Structures

I ask how that can be achieved. “Three things. First, we put place proper structures to fix the pay of the president and the general secretary. Neither should have any involvement in that process. We need to implement the Lucey reforms. I would be particularly strong on ensuring that the committees have the final say on their area, be it dairy, sheep, cattle, tillage, rural development, whatever. That’s vital.

“Secondly, Con Lucey’s report was put together in a short time, and we probably need a further, completely independent analysis of our structures, to make sure we move forward on a sound footing. The submissions are being worked through, and should provide food for thought.

“The third thing is the day-to-day work of IFA. Fighting for better prices for farmers, for lower input costs, and for support schemes. Farmers are not getting a fair deal from the marketplace. We need protection through some kind of traceability for the processors and retailers. That’s what farmers need, and I believe that a strong IFA is the best way for farmers to come together to fight for a better future for themselves and their families.”

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How much should the president get? “That won’t be my decision. I will do the job if I’m elected, not for the money, but for the honour of representing farmers, and would be proud to do it. I started attending Laois county executives as a Macra delegate in 1991 – I was only 22. I’ve hardly missed one since. The other thing is there will be no more secrets – everyone will know what I’m getting.

“There was a sense that sheep was low-profile in IFA when I took the chairman’s job, but I saw it as a challenge,” Burns said.

“I felt it was up to us on the committee to come up with a credible policy, and my job as chairman to drive a campaign to achieve our goal. I enjoyed it, and we achieved some success. I have a great love of sheep, always had and still do.”

Successes

The successes included a campaign against imported lamb with inadequate labelling on Irish supermarket shelves – “no longer an issue”; and the securing of the ewe maintenance payment, worth about €19m a year to farmers.

“That was a long campaign, building pressure, getting support from at home initially, then in Brussels.”

Irish MEP Liam Aylward compiled a report for the European parliament, which strengthened the IFA’s case for a coupled payment.

“Once the case was unarguable, we ramped up the pressure.”

A 13-day protest outside the Department of Agriculture in the bitter cold of December had the desired effect. The payment was secured in the Health Check, best remembered for the abolition of milk quotas.

“It was the only new money farmers got in that reform,” Burns said. It utilised unused funds left over, the CAP equivalent of the money down the couch. “€10/ewe wasn’t enough,” said Burns, “so we keep going. There is a new campaign for a €20 payment.”

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Unfinished business

In that regard, he sees the genomics scheme as unfinished business. “The original payment was for €20/cow, we’ve got that up to €80, but the case for €200/cow is being made.”

Burns believes the lack of a coupled payment was the biggest failing of CAP reform. “We’re one of only a few countries that have no coupled payment. It would have made a big difference to the income of small suckler and sheep farmers in particular.”

He knows that farming is never easy. “We did struggle here, myself and my dad, there’s no point saying otherwise. We had our tussles with the bank, so I know how hard that is.

“Paying off land loans from drystock and tillage farming is never easy, but my father and I plugged away, renting land and doing contract work – silage and hay mainly.”

It is no different in other sectors, he said. “Dairy farmers have better incomes, but have huge borrowings and are rightly worried about prices and markets. We all share the same concerns, pigs poultry, grain or vegetables. The power is not with the farmer.”

Difficult timing

Henry lost his father over Christmas, and had, along with his mother and family, helped to care for him in recent years when he had not been so well. The timing of this election is therefore difficult, but he said he decided to “give it one almighty shot”.

The stock – ewes five weeks from lambing, sucklers and bull yearlings being finished – look to be of good quality and well cared for.

The yard was flooded from a nearby river during the recent rains, and it looks like all our yards – not perfect, a work in progress, needing to be driven on to the next stage.

A little like the IFA. Henry Burns believes he is the man to do both.

FACTBOX

Henry Burns

Age: 46

Home farm: Drinagh, just outside Mountmellick, Co Laois.

Farms: 75ha owned, 28ha leased.

System: with 250 ewes, 60 sucklers and 40ha of cereals. All cattle finished on farm, with some bought-in to finish.

Family: Married to Claire.

Past: IFA sheep committee national chair 2006-2009; national livestock committee chair since 2012.

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