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“I’ve fed bulls and a lot of cattle. I’ve lost a lot of money. [The last few year have] made dirt of us. You need to deliver €100m, it needs to be for the farmer. Don’t make us beg so far that we get worn out and just go away. We’re not going to do that. We do what we do very well. Listen to the anger. If there were proper supports and reasonable prices this anger would not be there.”
“The costs are too high and what we’re getting for our stock is too low. The future for the young farmer is zero. My son is telling me to sell. I love the land, it’s part-time to me but it’s my joy. The stocking rate on my farm has been multiplied by at least five, but my Single Farm Payment is based on when I began. My costs have gone up. This should be looked at every two years.”
“It was all figures, we’ve heard it all for the past 30 years. They were on a track and they wouldn’t go off it. I’d like to have heard that we’ll get support of €200 for the suckler cow and that the beef factories would give us a fair price of €4.50/kg to €5/kg. There were no people from the grain and fertiliser merchants, the retailers… They’re really cleaning us off as well.”
“The Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) is supposed to deliver quality of life, to give affordable food for consumers.
Why are we producing cheap beef for the industry to export?
Is it not past time to move away from an industry-designed and led policy to move to a farmer and Irish consumer-led policy?”
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