This year it is being held in the Riverside Hotel in Macroom, which is in the heart of the Muskerry Macra region. The conference will take place on Saturday 24 October at 2pm following farm tours in the morning. Guest of honour and speaker is Phil Hogan, European Commissioner for Agriculture.

The theme was chosen with the aim of motivating young farmers to make the most of their agricultural careers.

Sean Finan, president of Macra and Alan Jagoe, president of CEJA, will outline the challenges facing young farmers at a national and European level. This will be followed by a discussion among a panel of young farmers from various enterprises who will discuss the topics of land mobility, the supports and obstacles within CAP, and the personal skills required by a young farmer to deal with these issues.

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It is expected that Commissioner Hogan will outline the various incentives for young farmers included in the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Farm walks

The beef and dairy tours will each visit two farms and will both have independent facilitators to ensure focused and worthwhile discussion.

Dairy

The dairy tour will be facilitated by Aidan Brennan. Aidan is a dairy specialist with the Irish Farmers Journal and managed research farms in Teagasc Moorepark for seven years. He also has a degree in agriculture and a diploma in economics.

Michael Bateman

Michael is a very well-known dairy farmer, milking just shy of 500 cows on a 170ha platform near Crookstown, Co Cork. The herd has been expanding rapidly from 150 cows in 2005. The cows are high EBI, Jersey/Friesian crosses. Michael is also using a scientific approach to grassland management, to produce 14t DM/ha last year. All the winter feed is made on the highly stocked milking platform.

Gerard Buckley

Ger is milking just shy of 170 cows, predominantly Holstein Friesian, with about 20% crossbreds in the herd. Ger is highly stocked on his 52ha milking platform. He checks his ICBF reports religiously and aims to rapidly improve his herd EBI. Although some cows are fed to yield, Ger does a grass budget weekly.

Beef

The beef tour will be facilitated by Anthony Dineen, who is the local Teagasc adviser. He has a deep knowledge of farms and the beef industry. Anthony will ensure that attendees gain as much information as possible from both walks and will focus once again on key take-home lessons.

Niall O’Mahony

Niall purchases and finishes about 550 head of cattle each year. It is predominantly a winter finishing unit as there is also a dairy and tillage enterprise on the farm. Niall formulates his own feeds using barley produced on the farm.

Ger Dineen

Ger is a Teagasc Better Farm participant. He runs a suckler to beef enterprise finishing all his bulls under 16 months and keeping his heifers as replacements and selling surplus replacements for a premium. An ICBF representative will be present on this farm to discuss using indices and physical evaluations of an animal in order to choose the ideal replacement.

Conference young farmer panel

The conference will be chaired by Bryan Hynes, Chair of Macra’s Ag Affairs Committee. The panel is set to include:

Tommy Moyles

Tommy Moyles from Ardfield, Clonakilty, Co Cork, is a suckler to beef farmer in partnership with his parents. He is a contributor to the Irish Farmers Journal and a Nuffield Ireland scholar. He is a member of Ballinascarthy Macra na Feirme and is a former Munster vice president of the organisation.

Kevin Moran

Kevin attained a Certificate in Agriculture from Mountbellew Agricultural College and was awarded Teagasc/FBD National Student of the Year 2013. He leased a 36ha block from his uncle in Caherlistrane, Co Galway in 2012. In 2013, he milked 72 cows and in 2014, having heifers contract reared allowed him to milk 100 cows in a compact spring-calving system, with a huge emphasis on grass utilisation. His Nuffield study topic is “Access to capital for young and expanding farmers with limited collateral”.

Jonathan Marry

Jonathan is a pig farmer from Louth. Jonathan fattens just under 800 pigs per year. The farm has three full-time staff and is fully compliant with Bord Bia and is EPA licensed. He breeds all his own replacements and buys all compound feed. He plans to build 800 extra fattening places in the future. He is a member of Tullyallen Macra. Jonathan was crowned the FBD Young Farmer of the Year in September 2015, having competed against Ireland’s brightest and best young farmers from all over Ireland.