An IFA county branch has called for the Teagasc eProfit Monitor to be renamed and for the figures put forward by farmers to be regarded as “commercially sensitive”.

Cork central branch chair Conor O’Leary told the Irish Farmers Journal that there is unease among farmers around the monitor and that farmers’ data needs to be protected.

“It’s only a cost comparison and not all of my costs are included in it, such as bank repayments or labour. When farmers around here are renegotiating land rents, it’s thrown back in our face. It’s not a profit monitor,” he said.

O’Leary also cited GDPR concerns around farmer data in the monitor. He said that the data collected “is used for much more than the purpose for which it was being collected”.

Motion

The branch has put forward a motion to be heard by the IFA’s rural development committee that the profit monitor be renamed “to reflect its more appropriate role as a cost comparison or efficiency monitor”.

The IFA also wants to ensure individual farmers’ permission is obtained for the use of the figures if they are to be compiled or published.