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1. In the 2016 KPMG/Irish Farmers Journal Agribusiness Report, Lorcan Allen addressed the issue of global water scarcity and the impact this will have on agricultural production in the future.
2. Also in this year’s agribusiness report, our ag-biz editor Eoin Lowry highlighted the problems facing Brazil, the world’s largest exporter of beef, soyabean and chicken, in getting its products to market.
3. The result of the Brexit referendum on 23 June 2016 sent shockwaves around the world. Our markets intelligence specialist, Phelim O’Neill, looked at what the vote meant for farmers on the island of Ireland.
4. Staying with Brexit, Phelim also looked at the different types of trade deals Britain could strike with other countries in the wake of its divorce from the European Union.
5. One more from the Brexit pile. Irish Farmers Journal editor Justin McCarthy cast a critical eye over what a UK exit from the EU would mean for farmers and the wider agri-business sector.
6. The FBD Young Farmer of the Year for 2016 was Kevin Moran, a dairy farmer from Co Mayo. Dairy specialist Aidan Brennan profiled Kevin’s remarkable success story in last autumn’s edition of the Irish Dairy Farmer. Have a read back over Aidan’s profile of the young Mayo man here.
7. The progression of the ABP-Slaney deal was another one of the big stories of 2016. In a special online editorial in October, editor Justin McCarthy reflected on the EU’s clearance of the deal and asked if this is the beginning of the end for independent processors.
8. Staying with ABP, Larry Goodman rattled some IFA cages in August by announcing that ABP would be moving to an opt-in rather than an opt-out system for levies. On the back of this news, the Irish Farmers Journal analysed the different levies paid by farmers and found that when totalled across the sectors, they amounted to more than €50m in 2015. Read the breakdown here.
9. Just when the world thought it had seen enough excitement with Brexit, Brexit-plus happened. In early November, US businessman Donald Trump, a man with no political background or experience, bucked all expectations by becoming the 45th president of the United States. Our ag-biz editor Eoin Lowry was in America for the vote and he spoke to one Irish student who took this particular plunge after narrowly missing out on the points to study in UCD.
10. And finally, while the Iceland soccer team was making waves at the European Championships in th summer, Patrick Donohoe wrote about farming in the land of fire and ice.
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