DEAR SIR:

I have been observing the situation vis-à-vis Irish agricultural production for some time now with great interest. I’m not a farmer, or from a farming background, but I do have some experience of the industry in terms of advertising and marketing work at a former time.

One phenomenon has particularly struck me: the state of farmland in Roscommon, east Galway and east Mayo, as observed on a train journey to Ballina, or Galway. One sees small scrubby paddocks, presumably used to fatten beef. It must be a pretty mind-numbing existence, but the British must have their Sunday joint, as we know.

Traditionally, we have been a source of cheap food for them, which probably explains why the Irish milk price is well below the Russian milk price. The upside is we have had to develop greater and greater efficiency to maintain margins, as commodities traders do their thing. It appears though that this entire culture has come to a point of crisis. The average farm income recently, about €25,000, is deeply worrying and pretty shocking given that our production culture may well now be the world’s most efficient. How much longer though can we be squeezed?

Getting back to the Sunday joint, there could hardly be a more inappropriate meal on Sunday, of all days. That’s a day to be mindful of those who exist on subsistence foods, like cornmeal, or even no food at all. Some years ago, I began to find myself repulsed by a joint of roast beef on Sunday, or any day at all for that matter. Beef production is also very demanding of the global grain supply, pushing up the price of subsistence grain in Africa particularly.

Looking at the overall Irish food picture, I believe a return to the co-op culture may be the way forward, but this time at a micro level. Fifteen or 20 lads might pool land and resources to produce a raw material crop for processing into finished products. Those small, scrubby paddocks might be landscaped, for example. Some weeks ago, I bumped into a man at the local Topaz garage, who informed me that 36,000 cattle had been killed, that week.

The question I would put is this: what happened to the hides? Will they end up in Dacca or some place like it? Those hides might have been Irish shoes, bags, jackets, gloves. The same argument might be applied to the wool from our sheep herd.

Here’s my biggest idea: let’s start growing flax again and revive the Irish linen industry. Back in the 19th century, Belfast was known as Linenopolis. Our linen industry of course was all but wiped out by the advent of cheap cotton, often based on a slave trade from India, Africa and North America.

I worry deeply at reports that some farmers are at the mercy of vulture funds. That may be down to the activities of finance houses who sold debt at a discount some time ago. I worry also about the situation of farmers in Northern Ireland vis-à-vis Brexit.