DEAR EDITOR

In 1986, Proinsias De Rossa announced that it wasn’t a sin to make money.

Was that significant? Well it must have been for a seven year-old to take note.

Roll the clock forward 40 years and one would be forgiven for thinking being a proactive, ambitious farmer is a modern day sin.

For the last three years, farmers and young farmers who applied for a TAMS grant to upgrade their milking facilities had to sign a declaration not to expand for the next five years.

I thought it was the failed “Green Party” influence but this has manifested itself into begrudgery and has thrived in the intervening years. To prove my point, in the last week, the details of the fertiliser scheme were announced which implies it’s OK to use fertiliser but not more than 100 tonnes.

Begrudgery

Because obviously anyone spreading more than 100 tonnes of fertiliser has a big farm, and with the price of land they don’t need any more (also known as begrudgery).

They talk about generational renewal, but these strangling policies all play havoc with young farmers’ plans.

Ambition is not to be encouraged.

These arbitrary limits, which have been set without any regard for the number of people who are farming under one herd number, send a clear signal: farming at scale is bad.

If the minister and Department genuinely want generational renewal, they must give the next generation the opportunity to make a living that is comparable to that of their peers.

This can only be achieved by making a profit from your farm.

A farm must also be able to support at least two families during succession.

But this government doesn’t really support commercial farming. They want caps and limits and ‘digressivity’.

They claim they want a new generation but they don’t want them to be too ambitious. The contradiction is clear.

Unfortunately, the generation in question are voting with their feet.