Macra has called on Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to intervene and end an “impasse” within the Food Vision beef and sheep group.
The young farmer organisation says that while it hasn’t left the group, it has “objections” remaining to some of its proposals to reduce beef sector emissions.
“We now need to see real negotiations with the Minister to reach an agreement,” Macra president John Keane said.
His comments follow the decision of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) to withdraw from the group on Friday.
The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) has also warned that it will not sign up to the proposals within the draft report as is.
Macra is committed to securing a future for those in the beef sector, says its president John Keane.
These proposals include reducing the slaughter age for beef cattle and paying farmers to destock. However, all farm organisations have pointed out that there are no funding commitments attached to such emissions reduction measures.
Objections
Keane said his organisation has the same objections to the beef and sheep Food Vision report as it has with the dairy Food Vision report.
He said these include there being no succession pathways for young farmers, measures to reduce production on farms, a lack of committed funding and unrealistic expectations for uptake of certain measures.
“There is obvious unhappiness among the memberships of the group - what is needed now is constructive negotiation on the measures.
“Macra is committed to securing a future for all farmers, particularly those in the beef sector, which the majority of our farmers are active in,” he said.
The Macra president highlighted that “young farmers are all too aware of the changes we need to make on farm”.
“Science and research show that we are the ones who will implement the change that is needed, which will benefit the environment and also the economic performance of our farms.”
Read more
INHFA pulls out of Food Vision group
IFA won’t sign up to Food Vision beef report
Macra has called on Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to intervene and end an “impasse” within the Food Vision beef and sheep group.
The young farmer organisation says that while it hasn’t left the group, it has “objections” remaining to some of its proposals to reduce beef sector emissions.
“We now need to see real negotiations with the Minister to reach an agreement,” Macra president John Keane said.
His comments follow the decision of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) to withdraw from the group on Friday.
The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) has also warned that it will not sign up to the proposals within the draft report as is.
Macra is committed to securing a future for those in the beef sector, says its president John Keane.
These proposals include reducing the slaughter age for beef cattle and paying farmers to destock. However, all farm organisations have pointed out that there are no funding commitments attached to such emissions reduction measures.
Objections
Keane said his organisation has the same objections to the beef and sheep Food Vision report as it has with the dairy Food Vision report.
He said these include there being no succession pathways for young farmers, measures to reduce production on farms, a lack of committed funding and unrealistic expectations for uptake of certain measures.
“There is obvious unhappiness among the memberships of the group - what is needed now is constructive negotiation on the measures.
“Macra is committed to securing a future for all farmers, particularly those in the beef sector, which the majority of our farmers are active in,” he said.
The Macra president highlighted that “young farmers are all too aware of the changes we need to make on farm”.
“Science and research show that we are the ones who will implement the change that is needed, which will benefit the environment and also the economic performance of our farms.”
Read more
INHFA pulls out of Food Vision group
IFA won’t sign up to Food Vision beef report
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