Good week for…

  • Calf sellers, as both calf prices and export numbers soar.
  • Job seekers in the agri-food industry, as the Irish Farmers Journal/Open Eir Agri Careers Fair saw 1,122 jobs on offer.
  • Young farmers, as the €5m National Reserve opened for applications.
  • Pro-Brexit voters, as UK prime minister Theresa May pulled the trigger on Article 50, signalling the UK’s intention to leave the European Union.
  • Michael and Marie McGuinness, who opened the gates to their farm, which is the biggest field in Ireland.

  • Arrabawn boss Conor Ryan, who announced that profits at the co-op more than doubled to €4.6m last yea
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    Bad week for…

  • Tom Julian, the midlands farmer who received a €25,000 bill from the Department of Agriculture for a penalty dating back to 2000.
  • Jack Bayly, one of 300 farmers who took to the streets of Nenagh to protest disproportionately high levels of farm inspections in north Tipperary and east Clare.
  • Henry McElroy, a sheep farmer on the Armagh/Louth border who lost 20 sheep in a dog attack.
  • ICBF, as it announced EBI falls of up to €100 on some bulls and Dovea pulled out of the Gene Ireland programme.