Comparing the first few months of 2019 to last year, you’d think it was a different planet we were farming.

This time 12 months ago, the cold and wet spell was just coming to a close. Now field work has largely been completed and there’s been a lot of silage cut ahead of normal too.

Given how good the weather has been to date, the pessimist inside me would be concerned as to what might yet happen this year to balance out the excellent grass growth seen so far.

Nature has a knack of balancing the weather conditions we have to work in. Despite the challenges of 2018, I think a positive to be taken from the year was how farmers had to think differently. It was more successful than any farm walk or open day. Desperate times forced farmers to consider options they would never have thought of before then. Maybe the same could be said of current beef situation.

I wasn’t at the Beef Summit in Ballinasloe but followed proceedings remotely via social media. Farmer anger towards the speakers and who they represent was abundantly clear.

So what can be done to move the Irish beef sector forward?

Finding common ground would be a start. It would be interesting to see the different stakeholders’ ideas on what the future should hold for Irish beef and with it large tracts of the country. Knowing the similarities would allow you to then focus on the differences.

Given the divide between the primary producer and factories alone, that is a big ask but each needs the other.

Even among beef farmers, there is huge diversity in terms of enterprise, scale and representation. How do you keep them all happy?

You’d wonder is it an advantage or not, that the Irish suckler herd is so politicised. It helps in having farmers’ voices heard, but with farmers’ preferred political weapon of choice being the word “no”, change is stymied. That creates its own issues in time.

Retaining the status quo will help people get elected, but how useful is trying to stay the same while the world around you changes?

A man much wiser than me told me that we need to focus on the politics of yes to improve the lot of Irish farmers and rural communities.

In the short term, improved communication is required to create cohesion. That gives an opportunity to find a common goal, at least.

Is there scope to use existing infrastructure to create channels where communication between all interested parties can flow better?

There is a national beef stakeholder group within Teagasc but could the regional makeup of the state advisory organisation be utilised more?

I know I’ve mentioned the idea before, but is there merit in having farmers and other vested interests meet in the Teagasc regions and feed information through to a national forum?

Advice could be tailored to each area and the issues on farms would have a channel to filter up and let the wider industry know the challenges and opportunities in each locality. It would also raise awareness and potentially solve small concerns before they become a national problem.

There’s every chance it won’t appeal either, as it would require different skills to those needed currently at farm representation levels.

Perhaps it’s a pipe dream, but it could help in bridging the disconnect that exists between the primary producer and the rest.