Anna Kavanagh, Corracorkey, Edgeworthstown, Co Longford.

DEAR SIR: At the end of a week where farming has been labelled and packaged by RTE for the purpose of light entertainment, I would go so far as to say that not since the days of Cromwell will we see such a land grab as we are about to witness in the next few years.

The catalyst for this was Food Harvest 2020, which was launched on 19 July 2010 by Brendan Smith TD, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. It set out ambitious targets to increase farm output. Writing in the foreword of “Milestones for Success 2014” the fourth annual progress report on the implementation of Food Harvest 2020, Simon Coveney, TD Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine complemented farmers on the progress made in the first four years of the programme and predicted that the “the medium- to long-term outlook for agricultural commodities and market growth remains generally positive.”

In order to increase output, farmers were encouraged to borrow heavily to invest in farm buildings, machinery and stock. At that time, they were stress-tested to ensure that they were in a position to meet their repayments to the banks.

However, these stress tests were based on commodity prices at that time. What nobody seemed to foresee was the collapse in prices paid to farmers for commodities such as milk.

In 2015, before the milk quota system was abolished, the average price paid to farmers for milk was 36c/litre. At present, they are paid 24c/l. No business is capable of withstanding a 33% drop in income. Other farm sectors such as the beef and grain sectors have also seen a huge drop in income. Therefore, it’s not surprising that many farmers are having difficulties meeting their loan repayments and some of the banks such as Ulster Bank are selling on their farm loan books to vulture capitalists.

If we want the land of Ireland to remain in Irish hands, something needs to be done immediately to block vulture capitalists buying up farm loan books. A failure to do so will result in the same fate as the housing market.

The largest landlord in Ireland is currently a Canadian company called the “Irish Residential Properties Reit” set up by the Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust.

Can we avoid a 21st-century style land grab and plantation whereby land ownership in Ireland is transferred to foreigners?