We booked a summer holiday in a family camping area in the south of France for this week a few months back. The weather has been exceptional out here, with over 25°C heat. For once, nobody at home will be jealous, as the weather in Co Kilkenny has been nearly as good. It was still worthwhile to get a break from work to enjoy a change of pace and scenery.The last of the first-cut has been tidied up in our absence and everything seems to be in order, which shows the value of having a great team at home. With the latest technology, I don’t even have to ask dad how the cows are milking or if the quality tests are in order – everything finds its way to the phone, even beside the pool, and the peace of mind is great.
We booked a summer holiday in a family camping area in the south of France for this week a few months back. The weather has been exceptional out here, with over 25°C heat. For once, nobody at home will be jealous, as the weather in Co Kilkenny has been nearly as good. It was still worthwhile to get a break from work to enjoy a change of pace and scenery.
The last of the first-cut has been tidied up in our absence and everything seems to be in order, which shows the value of having a great team at home. With the latest technology, I don’t even have to ask dad how the cows are milking or if the quality tests are in order – everything finds its way to the phone, even beside the pool, and the peace of mind is great.
Good news
Press releases from Glanbia also have a way of finding their way out here and I suppose good news is always welcome. I usually prefer reading a good Wilbur Smith novel when away, but the news of an option of an interest-free fund equal to 2c/l for the rest of the year makes good reading too.
It’s almost a case of another month, another announcement from Glanbia about supporting farmers through the difficult period ahead. We might grumble about milk price – and rightly so to keep pressure on – but we couldn’t ask for more opportunities.
The support for the grain side of the house is another welcome boost this time, although I note that milk supplies in fixed-price contracts are ineligible, so this is possibly the case with forward-contracted grain as well.
Between fixed milk price contracts, the milk flex loan scheme and this new advanced payment scheme, Glanbia is showing its commitment to maintaining its supplier base and milk supply to keep all of the new processing investments running at optimum capacity.
Markets stabilising
Unfortunately, these schemes are driven by a continuing depression in global markets and while there are signs of supply dropping in some regions and markets stabilising, nobody is predicting an upturn for at least another six months.
The farmland around the resort looks very barren for the most part, with irrigated crops of tomatoes, watermelons and potatoes near water sources, but mostly light crops of barley and grapevines everywhere else. Anyone trying to produce milk or beef out here would need deep pockets to survive for any length of time.
It seemed like we had enough rain for a whole year at home this spring, but a quick look around out here shows how important it is to our agricultural economy; hopefully a little more evenly spread across the full calendar year in future.
Read more
Read more: Farmer Writes
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: