Executive council

The IFA executive council met this week in Dublin. Measures to tackle the farm income crisis were high on the agenda, along with the IFA’s pre-budget submission, which will be finalised shortly. Brexit concerns, trade, payments and current issues in commodities were also discussed. Keep up with IFA news and events at www.ifa.ie.

Connacht election

Voting in the election for Connacht regional chair takes place next week. There are two candidates for the position: Eddie Davitt from Sligo and Padraic Joyce from Mayo. Each of the five Connacht county executives will meet to vote during the week and the count will take place on Friday 24 June.

Food chain

IFA president Joe Healy chaired a meeting of the COPA Working Party on the Food Chain this week. He repeated the IFA’s call for stronger EU regulation to deal with the unfairness in the food supply chain and discussed the next steps to be taken following an EU Parliament vote for more action to tackle unfair trading practices.

Sheep fencing

IFA rural development chair Joe Brady has welcomed the opening of TAMS for sheep fencing. He said it is also important that the promised tillage measures are also introduced.

These were part of the amendments to the RDP submitted to Brussels. The IFA will be making a detailed proposal to the Department in advance of the 2016 RDP amendment.

Environment

IFA environment chair Thomas Cooney last week attended a meeting of EU farming reps on agri-environment policy. He said that European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker must ensure the ambitions of the 2030 climate talks match the objectives of the international Paris Agreement – adaptation processes must not threaten food production.