All the latest opinion and comments on the Irish agricultural industry from the Farmers Journal editorial team.

LATEST ARTICLES
Viewpoints
Dempsey at Large: Oxford Farming Conference report
Matt Dempsey
His address was alarmingly short on specifics, and dealt almost entirely in generalisations.
Dempsey at Large: Oxford Farming Conference report
Home Farm: crops fair well in cold spell
15 January 2025 Viewpoints
Home Farm: crops fair well in cold spell
I have never seen ground conditions as good in mid-January and the longer heavy rain stays away, the better for the next few weeks.
Colm McCarthy: Government has become an insurer of last resort
15 January 2025 Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: Government has become an insurer of last resort
The Irish State has got into the habit of retrospectively assuming compensation risks, directly financed by the Exchequer.
Opinion: fair food pricing may test CAP commitment of consumers
Will asking consumers to pay more for food cost farming public support for the Common Agricultural Policy?
11 January 2025 Opinion
Home Farm: slurry additives
Whether grazing so late in the year was the right decision, I am not sure.
8 January 2025 Viewpoints
Dempsey at Large: sauce for the goose
Given the dramatically different cost and regulatory obligations between the EU and Brazil, another way of facilitating two-way trade should have been developed.
8 January 2025 Viewpoints
Colm McCarthy: Is it time to extend water charges?
Running the water supply and wastewater disposal system will cost the Exchequer up to €2 billion per annum if current ambitions are to be realised.
8 January 2025 Viewpoints
Discontent among farmers about future payments
Reports suggest a small number of farmers have decided to walk away from the BPS regime.
1 January 2025 Northern Ireland
Heavy costs ahead to upgrade our electricity system
Additional power needs new generation units and renewables, wind farms and solar arrays being the favoured options.
1 January 2025 Viewpoints
A look back at the last 60 years in farming
The most obvious contrast between 'then' and 'now' is the change in scale in every dimension of agriculture.
1 January 2025 Viewpoints
Dempsey at Large: Variable incomes
The original CAP, with its guaranteed intervention prices and export refunds, was designed to prevent severe fluctuations.
1 January 2025 Viewpoints
Home Farm: Analysing our dairy beef results
The difference in final price between the best and the worst was a really signifiant €340.
1 January 2025 Viewpoints