Over the last week, I went to two of the national public service events at the cutting edge of encouraging productivity in beef and tillage. In last week’s Irish Farmers Journal, the excellent open day at Grange was fully covered though I must admit I was horrified that several of the most important beef breed societies did not participate in the ICBF exhibit. This was unfortunate.

The breeds that have evolved over so many years have a great deal to offer the Irish beef sector, but the capacity to identify stock with superior production characteristics is going to accelerate as the ability to link specific gene sequences with specific production traits gathers pace.

We have seen this happen in the dairy sector and rapid progress is being made in beef.

There will be greater accuracy in predicting the performance of individual animals and this will inevitably mean a reduced market for the mediocre. This has very clearly happened in pigs, poultry and dairy cows.

We are fortunate in having a body such as ICBF that acts exclusively in farmers’ interests to drive the genetic progress in milk, beef and sheep. Of course there will be those who feel threatened by the growing knowledge and transparency but the alternative is for no progress and a continuous reduction in producers’ income and sectoral output.

Meanwhile, in Fermoy, the Department of Agriculture held its annual crop evaluation open day. The Department has responsibility for cereal breeding and preparation of the recommended lists and seed certification programmes.

The display of varieties and plots at the Ballyderown Farm beside Moorepark was exemplary in its scope, detail and thoroughness. Apart from the normal yield, lodging and disease resistance, there was also specific information on the malting and distilling suitability of varieties developed for these growing markets.

Grain

The world has been awash with grain as better technology and availability of new land in South America and the former Soviet Union have ramped up production.

I was surprised to hear such clear criticism of the Irish distilling industry for putting so little back into the sector, which is seeing such growth in demand based on a story of Irish barley and Irish water.

The use of American maize was singled out as well as the ever decreasing share of the value added getting back to the producer. Perhaps when Bord Bia reviews its Origin Green Scheme, some cognisance should be taken of these areas.

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