Macra numbersgain from agricultural resurgence

The resurgence in young people's interest in farming has led to an over subscription of Ireland's agricultural colleges. Macra na Feirme is also gaining from the renewed level of interest from a younger generation, and has seen its membership increase by 20% to 9,000 over the past three years. Macra President Alan Jagoe proudly released that statistic when the Irish Farmers Journal recently visited him on his farm in Co Cork and he stressed that the upturn is especially positive considering the mass emigration of young people to places like Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

With over eight months of his two year term as president served, Alan has settled into his new role with ease. ''I have loved every minute of the job so far''. His time as president so far has coincided with a certain degree of buoyancy in agriculture but there are many issues affecting Macra members. While he was happy that there was a young farmer element within the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) proposals delivered last October, he pointed out that they were indeed only proposals and that a lot more is needed to help Ireland's young farmers.

CAP

Under the CAP proposals Irish farmers under the age of 40 are set to receive a 25% top-up on their Single Farm Payment (SFP) to a maximum of 32ha from the national SFP for their first five years post-establishment. Alan pointed out that Ireland currently does not have enough young farmers coming through to fully utilise the 2% available, so more needs to be done to encourage land transfers.

The proposals also state that a business start-up and training package will be made available to young farmers under Pillar 2 to a maximum of €70,000. ''This must be designed so Ireland can draw down as much money as we are entitled to and be distributed fairly amongst young farmers,'' he said.

Alan said Macra's CAP priorities for young farmers under Pillar 1 are:

• A 25% top-up on their SFP for the first five years farming. This must be a properly designed scheme to draw down the full 2% that is made available.

• A properly functioning SFP national reserve to support young farmers who commence farming without a SFP or with an inadequate SFP.

• A start up business support grant package for young farmers to help them get established in their first year of farming.

• Support to encourage and facilitate new routes into farming for new entrants such as partnerships, share farming etc.

With the average age of Irish farmers continuing to increase incentives to allow more land to be transferred to younger farmers are essential, Alan believes. CSO figures show that in 2007, 8,900 Irish farmers, or only 7%, were under 35. In 2010 this fell to 6,228, or 5%, according to Department of Agriculture figures. On the other side of the spectrum 28% of farmers -more than one in four- were over 65 years of age in 2010.

He pointed out however that Irish agriculture has excellent opportunities in the coming years and that young people must be at the core of the sector. He suggested that with Ireland's huge reliance on exports we need to sell our green image better than has been done over the years. ''We have an exceptionally green product and a very low carbon footprint. We need to sell this image both nationally and internationally.''

While speaking about Ireland's dairy industry he said that it will be too late to start looking for new markets in 2015. ''We need to have our toe in the door now and have established a foothold before 2015, at least then we have something to build on.''

Over Christmas the Corkman got engaged to his girlfriend Helen McCarthy. At home in Minane Bridge, just south of Carrigaline he farms 160 hectares in partnership with his father Eddie. Half of the 160ha is rented and 52ha are available around the parlour for the farm's 150 Holstein Friesian cows.

traditional

The Jagoe's run a very traditional family farm where every member of the family has a role. ''All family members are involved. It's important to keep the family value,'' said Alan. Farming in close proximity to the sea the land is very free draining which helps get the cows out early in the spring. While doing the herding Alan has the odd opportunity to meet Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney who has land bounding him.

In 2011 the herd averaged 1,600 gallons at 3.69% protein and 4.2% fat supplied to Dairygold. Alan described the cows as 'not too extreme' which helps the farm's beef enterprise. Some of their best bulls are sold on for breeding with the rest fattened on farm as bull beef at 18 to 20 months. The demand for breeding bulls has fluctuated each year. There seems to be a good demand for the coming year.

All of the feed required on the farm, with the exception of protein, is home grown. This allows them to formulate rations at first cost. They grow 17ha of maize, 10ha of winter wheat, 8ha spring wheat, 16ha spring barley (including some for malting) and 6ha of beet.

Heifers are calved down at two years of age. In order to have them strong enough to calve at 24 months, heifers must get off to a good start explained Alan. ''It starts when they are calves. If they have a good first summer at grass, it is no problem.''

Alan is also a member of Macra na Feirme's 3C discussion group in Cork which was specially designed for young farmers. Every month the group meet up on a member's farm. ''We noticed that young farmers can feel more comfortable in these groups as they are dealing with people of a similar age and levels of experience, drive and ambition.''

About Macra

Macra na Feirme is an organisation for young people between the ages of 17 and 35. Clubs are spread across every county and the organisation provides the following.

Young Farmer DevelopmentGroups (YFDG)

These operate at county level and provide discussion nights and information meetings for young farmers where a variety issues facing young farmers are covered by a panel of guest speakers. Topics covered at past meetings include farm accounts, transfer of land, the Nitrates Directive, GM crops, farm financing and pricing policies with local merchants.

Agricultural Affairs Committee

Macra's Agricultural Affairs committee pursues a variety of issues on behalf of young farmers. They look at current policies and aim to implement new ones that are compatible with young farmers.

Young Farmer 3C Discussion Groups

In association with Teagasc and with the support of FBD, Macra operates Young Farmer 3C Discussion Groups. These are for young farmers and focus on one enterprise. Discussion groups meet eight to 10 times per year on farms to learn from one another in an effort to enhance each farm's profitability.

CEJA

Macra is a member of CEJA, the European Council of Young Farmers, which is the voice of Europe's next generation of farmers at the European institutions. It is made up of 27 young farmer organisations from 21 EU member states. CEJA's main objective is to promote a younger and innovative agricultural sector across the EU27 and to create good working and living conditions for young farmers. It achieves this by acting as a forum for communication and dialogue between young farmers and European decision makers.

Competitions

Macra organises a variety of young farmer competitions throughout the year including:

•FBD Young Farmer of the Year

•Forage Systems Silage Competition

•FBD Farm Skills Competition

•Bord Bia Beef & Sheep Stockjudging Competitions

•Irish Dairy Board Dairy Stockjudging Competition

•Irish Farmers Journal Know Your Agriculture Quiz

•Griffin Engineering Welding Competition