With the CAP’s greening money set to move to so-called eco-schemes after 2020, one thing dairy processors want to see included is incentives for more milk recording.
The thinking at ICOS is that milk recording is the key to better management of environmental issues, antimicrobial resistance and Johne’s disease, yet only around half of Irish milk goes through the process.
The eco-schemes will be voluntary, but realistically all farmers will need to get in if they don’t want to lose the current 30% greening share of their direct payments.
Expect the co-ops to push for this as a way of generalising milk recording without making it an obligation as CAP talks develop.
Aidan O'Driscoll. \ Mario Salerno/EU
Aidan says adios to agriculture
Aidan O’Driscoll is leaving Agriculture House. The Department of Agriculture secretary general announced on Tuesday that he will be taking up the parallel position in the Department of Justice in September.
O’Driscoll succeeded Tom Moran in 2015, leading the successful CAP negotiation team. Working with fellow Corkmen Simon Coveney and Michael Creed, he has helped steer the transformation of our dairy sector, and the early achievement of Harvest 2020 targets, but there have been low points, not least the occupation of Agriculture House by grain farmers.
His new challenge may have him remembering such skirmishes fondly by Christmas. We wish him well.
Mini boom for rush farmers
“We’ll be millionaires in no time, mark my words.” So went one quote from a farmer in the west.
You can talk all you like about commodity markets, rush farmers have seen the price of their produce double over the past week.
At the beginning of last week, rushes were trading at €8/bale but have steadily increased to a reported €15/bale being paid early this week for rushes with some hay mixed through. Straw is looking to be very scarce and entrepreneurial farmers in the west are looking at alternatives.
One prominent straw trader on the border has already traded 280 bales of rushes and is seeking more to fill further orders.
“Straw is too dear at €30/bale for a lot of my customers,” he said. It’s another plus for low-carbon footprint production where straw doesn’t have to be hauled long distances.
The wandering bullock returns
I was pleased to hear from Co Louth farmer Stuart McKeever that he had recovered a Limousin cross bullock after reporting it stolen to gardaí several days earlier.
A reader contacted Stuart after seeing coverage of the missing animal on www.farmersjournal.ie and spotting the animal five to six miles away from the farm. How the one-year-old animal covered that distance unnoticed remains a mystery, but all is well that ends well.
Ammonia issue bubbling along
I read with interest in the latest progress report on the implementation of the Food Wise 2025 strategy that the Department of Agriculture is “continuing to engage with the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment on the draft national clean air strategy”.
This, concretely, means that they are discussing how much to restrict the use of splash plate slurry spreading in a bid to curb ammonia emissions.
Ireland is preparing the clean air strategy to tackle pollutants including ammonia, which is 98% agricultural. A public consultation last year asked the explosive question whether splash plates should be banned – a move now under consideration in Northern Ireland.
Teagasc replied that half of all slurry should be spread with trailing shoes to meet Ireland’s ammonia targets, and is now crunching the numbers to detail available options and their costs. Watch this space.
Fears over water shortages were taken to a new level when The Dealer saw an ad for “clean water” on Done Deal. The Skibbereen-based seller didn’t state a price but said it was “ideal for water troughs and parlour washing”. I’ve seen it all now.
The European Commission has launched a public consultation on whether we should keep putting the clocks forward and then back an hour. Dairy and tillage farmers and even the GAA might not be too impressed if we went to permanent winter time. I imagine the most ardent supporter of putting the clocks back might be the UK prime minister, but no kind of public consultation is going to move time to an era before the Brexit referendum.
New discovery in the Boyne Valley by Anthony Murphy.
A story gaining international attention has caused excitement in the Irish Farmers Journal office. Anthony J Murphy, a member of the subeditorial team, sent his drone to the skies near Newgrange on Tuesday. When reviewing the footage, he noticed something that grabbed his attention as a historian. An ancient structure was emerging as the parched ground revealed old secrets. A massive circular structure is waiting to be discovered.
With the CAP’s greening money set to move to so-called eco-schemes after 2020, one thing dairy processors want to see included is incentives for more milk recording.
The thinking at ICOS is that milk recording is the key to better management of environmental issues, antimicrobial resistance and Johne’s disease, yet only around half of Irish milk goes through the process.
The eco-schemes will be voluntary, but realistically all farmers will need to get in if they don’t want to lose the current 30% greening share of their direct payments.
Expect the co-ops to push for this as a way of generalising milk recording without making it an obligation as CAP talks develop.
Aidan O'Driscoll. \ Mario Salerno/EU
Aidan says adios to agriculture
Aidan O’Driscoll is leaving Agriculture House. The Department of Agriculture secretary general announced on Tuesday that he will be taking up the parallel position in the Department of Justice in September.
O’Driscoll succeeded Tom Moran in 2015, leading the successful CAP negotiation team. Working with fellow Corkmen Simon Coveney and Michael Creed, he has helped steer the transformation of our dairy sector, and the early achievement of Harvest 2020 targets, but there have been low points, not least the occupation of Agriculture House by grain farmers.
His new challenge may have him remembering such skirmishes fondly by Christmas. We wish him well.
Mini boom for rush farmers
“We’ll be millionaires in no time, mark my words.” So went one quote from a farmer in the west.
You can talk all you like about commodity markets, rush farmers have seen the price of their produce double over the past week.
At the beginning of last week, rushes were trading at €8/bale but have steadily increased to a reported €15/bale being paid early this week for rushes with some hay mixed through. Straw is looking to be very scarce and entrepreneurial farmers in the west are looking at alternatives.
One prominent straw trader on the border has already traded 280 bales of rushes and is seeking more to fill further orders.
“Straw is too dear at €30/bale for a lot of my customers,” he said. It’s another plus for low-carbon footprint production where straw doesn’t have to be hauled long distances.
The wandering bullock returns
I was pleased to hear from Co Louth farmer Stuart McKeever that he had recovered a Limousin cross bullock after reporting it stolen to gardaí several days earlier.
A reader contacted Stuart after seeing coverage of the missing animal on www.farmersjournal.ie and spotting the animal five to six miles away from the farm. How the one-year-old animal covered that distance unnoticed remains a mystery, but all is well that ends well.
Ammonia issue bubbling along
I read with interest in the latest progress report on the implementation of the Food Wise 2025 strategy that the Department of Agriculture is “continuing to engage with the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment on the draft national clean air strategy”.
This, concretely, means that they are discussing how much to restrict the use of splash plate slurry spreading in a bid to curb ammonia emissions.
Ireland is preparing the clean air strategy to tackle pollutants including ammonia, which is 98% agricultural. A public consultation last year asked the explosive question whether splash plates should be banned – a move now under consideration in Northern Ireland.
Teagasc replied that half of all slurry should be spread with trailing shoes to meet Ireland’s ammonia targets, and is now crunching the numbers to detail available options and their costs. Watch this space.
Fears over water shortages were taken to a new level when The Dealer saw an ad for “clean water” on Done Deal. The Skibbereen-based seller didn’t state a price but said it was “ideal for water troughs and parlour washing”. I’ve seen it all now.
The European Commission has launched a public consultation on whether we should keep putting the clocks forward and then back an hour. Dairy and tillage farmers and even the GAA might not be too impressed if we went to permanent winter time. I imagine the most ardent supporter of putting the clocks back might be the UK prime minister, but no kind of public consultation is going to move time to an era before the Brexit referendum.
New discovery in the Boyne Valley by Anthony Murphy.
A story gaining international attention has caused excitement in the Irish Farmers Journal office. Anthony J Murphy, a member of the subeditorial team, sent his drone to the skies near Newgrange on Tuesday. When reviewing the footage, he noticed something that grabbed his attention as a historian. An ancient structure was emerging as the parched ground revealed old secrets. A massive circular structure is waiting to be discovered.
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