Beef crisis

A large IFA crowd of farmers assembled in the Dáil last week for a debate on the beef crisis. The IFA has called on the Government to introduce a “certifiable loss” scheme for beef farmers who have had their incomes devastated due to Brexit-related price cuts. He said the IFA is working on a model of certifiable losses based on farmers losing €20 per head for every 5c/kg price drop.

Aquaculture

IFA aquaculture chair Michael Mulloy has criticised the Department of Agriculture’s lack of support for Irish aquaculture production in light of a report which shows output levels plummeting here. He said: “Aquaculture is a significant and very valuable source of employment in rural, coastal communities.” According to BIM’s figures, Irish aquaculture is 20% below 2010 volumes and based on Government targets of 7.8% yearly growth, this means the industry is 82% behind.

Milk prices

IFA national dairy committee chair Tom Phelan said the recent EU Milk Market Observatory meeting in Brussels and the first Rabobank Dairy Quarterly Report for 2019 both agreed that lower global milk supplies and reasonable demand would promote stable to improving milk prices over the coming months. This, he said, should give co-ops the confidence they need to hold their March milk prices when boards meet in the next 10 days.

Hen Harrier Project

IFA hill farming committee chairman Flor McCarthy has welcomed the announcement by the Hen Harrier Project that every farmer who has applied will be offered a contract. He said this has the potential to bring the total number of farmers in the project to over 1,600. The Hen Harrier Project provides €25m in funding.