President of Macra na Feirme John Keane has told Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue and Minister of State Pippa Hackett that the use of terms like “intensive agriculture” and “large-scale farming” are unhelpful and do not relate to Irish farming.

Keane was speaking in his home county of Laois on the 23rd stop of the Minister for Agriculture’s CAP consultation tour on Tuesday 2 November.

He commented that he is lucky enough to have travelled to farms in different parts of the world where he has seen dairy farms with 5,000 cows in the middle of a desert, where he has seen massive feed lots just a few acres in size finishing cattle.

Young people are given a good education and shown what real life is like. What working hard looks like

Looking out through the Ballinakill Mart, he pointed to a few cattle roaming around and he commented that that is not intensive agriculture.

“I have not seen any farm system that rivals what happens in this country,” Keane said.

“We have a farm-family model here. Young people are given a good education and shown what real life is like. What working hard looks like. That’s something that needs to be protected.”

“What happens and the terminology that’s being used is not reflective of what goes on in this country.”

John Keane addressing the crowd at Ballinakill Mart in Co Laois.

He added that he was disappointed with An Taoiseach’s comments in relation to agriculture earlier this week and questioned the amount of “on-farm experience some of our representatives have”.

Certainty needed

Keane called on the Ministers of the Department of Agriculture to fight for farmers and said that young farmers need certainty.

“For any young person to enter into any sector, the idea of having certainty and having a future is very important.”

Keane noted that 30 years ago young farmers accounted for 10% of the active farmer population and that figure is now 5%.