In all the talk about dairy expansion and the need to put some sort of a lid on it, it shouldn’t be forgotten that if you were a dairy farmer in Ireland seven or eight years ago and you had no plan to expand post-quota, there was something wrong with you.

We were only coming out of the financial crash when most businesses were still struggling to get an overdraft but if you were going buying cows, the bank manager’s door was open

I remember talking to dairy farmers around that time who were planning to ramp up after 30 years of being shackled. And they spoke about how they were being offered loans by banks to buy cattle and build milking parlours. We were only coming out of the financial crash when most businesses were still struggling to get an overdraft but if you were going buying cows, the bank manager’s door was open.

Remember the enthusiasm of Government and other stakeholders too. So much so, that – only a few short years after – many dairy farmers had given up due to low margins, now grain growers and beef farmers were suddenly flocking to the dairy shows to size up new milking machines.

Giddy Government ministers couldn’t contain their excitement as farmers and processors pumped hundreds of millions of euro into this new phase of Irish farming

We were to become the fastest growing dairy-producing country in Europe – if not the world.

Giddy Government ministers couldn’t contain their excitement as farmers and processors pumped hundreds of millions of euro into this new phase of Irish farming.

This is less than a decade ago when global warming and climate change were very much a concerning issue. It’s astonishing, that at no point as late as 2015, did anybody in farming, processing, banking or politics shout “stop” or even “hang on a minute until we think this out a bit”. And if they did, they were quite obviously ignored.

Young farmers borrowed big to get on board this fast moving train to the end of the rainbow

Dairy cow numbers grew and continue to do so. Young farmers borrowed big to get on board this fast moving train to the end of the rainbow. Like any business, borrowings were made on projections. No mention of carbon budgets when those contracts were being signed. Will banks go easy now that we are facing a possible levelling off of production?

Parallel to all this of course has been EU policy, where farmers were dragged by the nose up the hill only to now face a complete about turn in policy via the EU Green Deal.

When Irish agriculture is mentioned in relation to reducing emissions, it is referred to in the collective and so looks ugly.

Remember a farmer putting a cow in calf today has to be thinking what the playing pitch will look like in 2024

But on the ground, farmers are frantically going about changing their ways, adapting new technologies and applying for environmental schemes in the hope that they will be match fit for the big asks that will be made of them between now and 2030.

Remember a farmer putting a cow in calf today has to be thinking what the playing pitch will look like in 2024.

In the modern frantic world of instant gratification, we never stop to think or plan properly

They have been really poorly served when it comes to future proofing against emissions mitigation and here we are now, on the eve of carbon budget targets being imposed on them not knowing of any just transition scheme of supports in the short or medium term. So do they put those cows in calf or what?

In the modern frantic world of instant gratification, we never stop to think or plan properly. Agriculture must play its part in meeting the 51% reduction target of 2030 but where is the safety net for the highly borrowed young farmers who built their business in good faith, encouraged by government and driven by policy? And are we as consumers ready to play our part in supporting them?

A reading recommendation

There are very few Roscommon natives that have never heard of Seamus Duke, local legendary broadcaster and journalist. A great story teller, his new memoir Dukie-The Game of Life is sure to include many gems from 40 years of sport, music and politics.