Farmer Writes: we are running faster to stand still

I recently attended a meeting with a friend of mine. Because he asked two questions the chair did not like, he was labelled a sceptic. Personally, I think he is a realist.

I have been thinking about it a lot the past week. What is the difference between the two?

All these people are getting a wage out of farmers, yet many farmers can’t pay themselves a wage

In the same hotel that day, there were five other meeting rooms booked by stakeholders and companies involved in Irish agriculture.

Some are trying to sell products to us and others try to sell produce on our behalf.

All these people are getting a wage out of farmers, yet many farmers can’t pay themselves a wage.

Sceptical Ronan

We’ve been told that our produce is worth more to the economy than ever before in the history of the State.

And we are told, almost weekly, that agriculture took Ireland out of the last recession.

'Exports are growing year on year' and 'Irish produce is being sold in more markets around the world than ever before', we are told.

But at the coalface of farming, things feel very different.

We are told daily to increase productivity of beef, pork, poultry, corn, lamb and milk.

We’re told that international buyers are clamouring for our produce, that they love Brand Ireland, the story and the image.

And we’re told China will take it all.

Would we be any worse off if we minced all the beef and lamb we produce and sold it as yellow pack on the world market?

We are constantly being told that we have a premium product, a niche product, a superior product.

Yet in the supermarkets of the world, food was never as cheap.

Would we be any worse off if we minced all the beef and lamb we produce and sold it as yellow pack on the world market?

Go to any supermarket and there is a premium branded product and an own brand.

Consumers want choice, say marketing gurus. But from my own observations, own-brand versions always get more shelf space.

The consumer has spoken. Cheap food is here to stay. We may have a niche product, but we are selling it into a very niche market space.

Realist Ronan

Consumers 30 years ago spent nearly half their wages on food. Today, it is closer to 10% to 12%.

To sell a niche product into a 40% spend is doable, but to sell it into a 10% to 12% spend is difficult.

We have more restaurants than ever to go to, more shopping centres than ever to buy stuff we don’t really need in.

We have to tax and insure two cars. We have Sky, Netflix, Racing TV and Spotify subscriptions to pay.

We fly to places we would never miss only Mick O’Leary wants a slice of our euro too.

We have music festivals to attend, concerts to go to, health insurance to pay.

The food farmers produce has slipped way down the queue when we divide up our money to spend.

The reality is that until either food gets scarce or we the consumer (as well as being a farmer, I am also a consumer) start to spend more on food than we do on cars/holidays/clothes, the lot of the food producer will change little.

Maybe all the negativity is just getting to me.

Is it a pipedream to think we can get all fillet steak to retail €47/kg?

We, as farmers, know only too well at different times of the year the way the price can fluctuate depending on supply, not demand.

I recently visited a farm shop selling its own beef. I bought some fillet steak priced at €47/kg – a premium product.

Two days later, I purchased fillet steak in a leading retailer which was €29/kg.

Is it a pipedream to think we can get all fillet steak to retail €47/kg?

If the two steaks were side by side in the supermarket, which would sell better? They were both delicious.

In the same way, there can be an 80c/l difference between cartons of the same milk on the same shelves.

Subsidies

It is always thrown at farmers that we get too many subsidies, but the reality is we are subsidising a lot more than we get subsidised for.

My grandfather bought this farm in the early 1950s, when we produced less, sold less on the world market and far fewer people were employed in agriculture than there are now.

How many of us could buy a farm today and pay for it directly from the farm income?

We are told that we are producing a premium product, that we are selling to more markets than ever before, and that exports are up.

In monetary terms, agricultural exports are worth more to the economy than ever before.

But as farmers we are running to stand still.

Read more

Farmer writes: slurry ban and dreaming of another good summer

Farmer Writes: requiem for a Jack Russell

Farmer Writes: the importance of a work-life balance