This is a subscriber-only article
Young farmers will call on Government to act on the challenges facing them in rural Ireland next week, as Macra members march from Athy to Dublin.
Macra will be highlighting the eight challenges facing young farmers and the rural youth, and will be delivering proposals to tackle these challenges to Government.
Joanne Cushen, mixed farm, Kilkenny
Joanne Cushen farms in partnership with her mother. She will be walking with her fellow Macra members to ensure that rural Ireland will be there in the future.
“My grandfather marched in the 1960s to ensure that incomes would be viable in rural Ireland. Now we’re marching to ensure rural Ireland survives. Rural Ireland needs young people and needs support from Government.
“There’s no point in postponing action. We need action now,” she told the Irish Farmers Journal.
Helena Coughlan, dairy and beef, Cork
Helena Coughlan is farming dairy and beef in Cork, in partnership with her parents.
“Up until now, the Government has shown a disregard for young people in rural Ireland. None of these issues are new issues,” she said in relation to Macra’s eight reasons for the march.
“We’re saying that rural Ireland needs to be at the forefront of policy. At the end of the day, if they don’t act fast on these issues, rural Ireland will not be there for much longer.
“They’re really not thinking about where food is going to come from,” she said.
Coughlan said that Government is also avoiding the topic of succession.
“They have told us we were too ambitious with our succession policy. We are the best educated young farmers in Europe – we know exactly what we’re doing. We are gradually improving the rural environment and yet, we’re not being given the time of day.
“Placing quotas on grant aid to improve our holdings and make them viable in the long-term is short-sighted in the extreme in my opinion. We’re not catching a break at all. No one is in our corner but ourselves.”
Diarmuid Murray, dairy and calves to beef, Roscommon
Diarmuid Murray is milking cows and rearing calves to beef with his father and uncle.
He said the Government is “limiting young farmer ambition” and won’t grant aid young farmers if they go over a certain number of cows.
“Most family farms have two or three families being sustained. You’re not going to sustain three families with 90 cows, no matter what the milk price is.”
SHARING OPTIONS: