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Farm environment schemes and Fair Deal dominated questions from farmers in the north of the country.
Farmers wanted to know how candidates were going to deal with a potential delay to the next CAP and what, if any, interim schemes they would introduce.
The delay in changes to the Fair Deal scheme were also a major concern.
“What assurance will you give if elected that you will immediately progress the Fair Deal scheme and provide for the inclusion of farmland leased to third parties?” Mabel Russell from Donegal wanted to know.
Weanling prices, live exports and the future of the industry were all highlighted as areas of concern for farmers in Leinster.
Suckler and sheep farmer Tom Burke from near Hacketstown, Co Carlow, asked how candidates planned to support the suckler sector and questioned the perceived control by beef factories on the industry.
Dairy farmer Alan Woods insisted any new Government needed to do more to support live exports to help prevent a build-up of dairy calves flooding the market. “The biggest challenges for me are bad milk and calf prices which lead on to bad beef prices,” Woods said.“Our Government should be assisting the ferries to take out more calves and keep them going and not have a build-up in this country.”
There was also a feeling expressed that the Government didn’t respect farmers and the contribution they made to the economy enough.
Nitrates and environmental challenges were to the forefront of farmers’ minds in Munster. Both beef and dairy farmers were nervous about potential new environmental policy that could limit their farm enterprises. There was also concern that farmers were being “scapegoated” when it came to the environment and not enough was being done to take into account the work farmers did in supporting the environment.
“When can we realistically expect to put the values of carbon taken in by the grass by photosynthesis and sequestered by soils, against our methane emissions?” Conor O’Leary from Cork asked.
“If it cannot be done before 2030, can we sell same through the carbon dioxide trading schemes, to cover carbon tax increases?”
Farmers wanted to know about the future of on-farm biodigesters and the potential for tillage farmers to grow crops for them.
Farm retirement and succession dominated the questions from farmers in the west. “Is farm retirement a concern for any of the political candidates, and if so, can they outline their plans for it?” Hill farmer John Moran from Mayo wanted to know.
A 57-year-old farmer repeated similar concerns and said any new Government needed to introduce some form of financial incentives to provide him with a retirement income that would allow him to step aside and pass his farm on to his son.
Forgotten farmers were also mentioned, with one farmer demanding to know which party would “right the wrong” done to farmers over 40 who had been farming for over 10 years without a BPS payment and were caught between schemes.
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