Macra has launched a new Walsh fellowship PhD with Teagasc which will investigate the economic return of young farmers.

Announcing the new fellowship, outgoing Macra president Thomas Duffy told the association’s AGM on Saturday that Macra has always been to the forefront in calling for action but also giving its own commitments.

“That’s why I’m very proud to announce that Macra will be partnering with Teagasc to promote an area which has been unfortunately overlooked.

“We will be launching a Walsh fellowship, a PhD, to investigate the economic return of young farmers.

“This will be a very important piece of work which will be the foundation for future investment. I’m delighted that we could partner with Teagasc on this,” he said.

Deep division

In his final speech as president of Macra, Duffy said that deep divisions have formed online and in social media in recent weeks on farming.

“While actions may speech louder than words, it is undeniable that words carry weight. The horrible rhetoric we have seen towards farming and indeed much of rural Ireland, that depends on agriculture and food production, has cost us much in the way of co-operation and dialogue, years spent building up relationships have been irreparably damaged.

“But let me tell you what I think farmers do not need. We don’t need to be villainised, we don’t need empty rhetoric about potential markets that might come, at some stage in the future. And we certainly don’t need self-appointed saviours.

“Farmers are not helpless and we’re not naïve. We’re not waiting to be saved and neither is rural Ireland in general. We are not asking for handouts, we are not asking for empty support, we’re asking you to be able to live and work in rural Ireland with the infrastructure that is owed to us as citizens of this country,” he said.

Not exempt from the climate crisis

Duffy said that the reality is that farmers are not exempt from the climate and biodiversity crises.

“There is a climate crisis. There is a biodiversity crisis and both will negatively impact us far before anyone living in urban Ireland or our cities. Right now, the reality is that we’re being told that we have lost the tournament before we’ve even had a chance to lace up our boots.

“We have successful pilots run throughout this country, but the reality is that those pilots need to be scaled up.

“We know what works. On water quality we know that ASSAP has been incredibly successful in getting farmers to embrace the changes needed.

“On habitats and species, we know that results payments work and that EIPs work.

“Macra remains committed. On climate we know that farmers are willing to take on these measures, be that changes in our slurry spreading, in the type of fertiliser we use or embracing new technologies and practices like multispecies swards,” he said.

Duffy said that all farmers now need to get access to pilot programmes and for these programmes to be grown into a national set of schemes.

John Keane took over from Duffy on Saturday at the Macra AGM.