A €200 suckler cow payment for farmers, fodder, Brexit and live exports were all on the agenda of Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed as he fielded questions at the IFA AGM on Tuesday.

In response to questions from the IFA membership, Minister Creed ruled out a €200 suckler cow payment now, but said he is open to considering such a payment post-2020.

He said he does not have the flexibility in the existing national envelope of money from Europe to take money from one area and put it into another.

“If we were to go to coupled payments, we are in danger of undermining the progress made to date in the Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP),” he said.

On the topic of a transport subsidy to help with the cost of bringing fodder to the northwest, Minister Creed said support is on the way, but it will be a number of days before more details on the subsidy will be announced.

The minister could not put a figure on how much the Department would deploy to such a subsidy.

On live exports, he said they are of critical importance to the market and that in 2017, live exports were up almost 20% year-on-year.

Reflecting on the year gone by, he said that at this time last year Ireland was in a way reeling still from effects of the Brexit vote, the new president in the US, elections in Europe and questions around renationalisation.

“Who would have thought when we had gathered here this time last year that we could get an agreement on a transition period? We have made progress.

“There are reasonable grounds for optimism on Brexit now. Our ask on Brexit is for continued tariff-free access to the UK market. By nature, I’m optimistic. There is no reason or room for complacency.”

Taoiseach

Also speaking at the IFA AGM was An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, who praised the “extraordinary performance” of Ireland’s agri-food sector but warned of potential threats to the industry.

Highlighting the record €13.5bn of Irish food and drink exports in 2017, he noted: “That’s more than a 70% increase in export value since 2009.”

Watch An Taoiseach's speech introduced by IFA president Joe Healy in our video below:

Watch An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's speech introduced by IFA president Joe Healy in our video below:

Although he highlighted Brexit risks, Taoiseach Varadkar was positive about the outcome of negotiations. “I’m confident a hard Brexit is something we can avoid – it would be catastrophic for this industry.”

On the threat of Mercosur, he told farmers: “We have worked closely with other member states to ensure Ireland’s sensitivities are well understood.

“Ireland without our beef industry, quite simply, would not be Ireland.”

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