January
The year started off with some good news for beef farmers, as weanling bull prices increased by €120/head in the first week of the year, according to Irish Farmers Journal analysis.
However, the following week, there was some controversy in the sector. It was exclusively revealed by this publication that Bord Bia had made a recommendation that cattle farmers in its Quality Assurance (QA) scheme should only buy from other certified QA farmers.
Into the middle of the month, private farm advisers downed tools as the Agricultural Consultants Association (ACA) said knowledge transfer (KT) deadlines were unmanageable. The Department agreed to be flexible on this in the following days.
Meanwhile, it was reported that straw supplies were to tighten off the back of a reduced tillage area, due to the weather impact on the 2023 harvest.
At the end of January, the Department of Agriculture moved to make changes to the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) to allow more cows and calves to meet its terms. This came following months of outrage from farmers over changes to the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) indices and their impact on the scheme.
February
The Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) was a dominant news story throughout February, as it was in 2023 and indeed the rest of 2024.
At the beginning of the month, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue announced flat-rate interim payments for the scheme, following mounting pressure from farmers over late payments.
These payments hit accounts some weeks later, with the Minister assuring farmers that balancing payments would be made by June.
Rural crime was also much talked about during the month, with €250,000 worth of GPS equipment stolen from tractors in 10 days.
Analysis by tillage editor Siobhán Walsh showed that the average tillage farmer was set to lose €7,000 in 2024 as a result of bad weather, regulation and new policies.
TB was in the headlines, as outbreaks in Irish cattle herds reached a 10-year high.
February was a month of farmer protests across Europe, with key demonstrations held in France, Germany, Belgium, Poland and Ireland. At home, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) held a tractor-cade in every county in Ireland.
March
ACRES, again, was on the front page in March. However, this time it was a good news story, as an additional 5,000 farmers were accepted into the second tranche of the scheme.
Following increasing pressure from the farmer protests of the past few months, Brussels announced plans to cut red tape around schemes. The proposal meant that some 28,000 Irish farmers could be exempt from inspection and payment penalties.
Meanwhile, it was reported that entitlements were selling for up to 2.6 times their value, as 2024 marked the end of the two-year amnesty on the 20% clawback on entitlements sold without land.
James Miller gets hit with a heavy downpour in March in Rathmore, Stradbally, Co Laois, stopping his effort to plough a field. \ Philip Doyle
Weather woes began to pile on farmers throughout March, as poor conditions delayed turnout of animals, costing suckler and dairy farmers thousands of euros.
By the end of the month, relentless rain ground fieldwork to a halt. Rainfall was up almost 50% in parts of the country year on year. Minister McConalogue convened an emergency meeting of the national fodder and food security committee.
April
Weather pressures continued to amass on farmers. Whether or not measures would be provided to alleviate fodder shortages became a focal point - after some back and forth, a fodder transport subsidy worth €40/bale was introduced.
The repercussions of the prolonged rain were wide-reaching, including knackeries reporting an increase in thin cows, slurry storage coming under pressure and a drop in cattle prices.
In to the backend of the month, Minister McConalogue announced a €100/ha payment for tillage farmers due to the challenges they faced from months of prolonged poor weather. He also ruled out the long-touted cow cull scheme for dairy farmers.
Milk supply fell by 9% to the end of March year on year and a dry spell at the end of the month allowed farmers to get some field work done.
May
Potential penalties to direct payments hit the headlines in early May. The ACA warned that up to half of the country’s farmers could be at risk of phosphorus-related penalties to their Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS), as well as penalties to ACRES.
On the environmental scheme, Minister McConalogue said balancing payments would start to issue in June and would be fully paid by the end of the month.
For the second time this year, TB was on the front page, as trends continued to worsen, with herd incidence exceeding 5% for the first time in over a decade.
Teagasc’s small farm survey revealed a mass exodus of small farmers. Over a quarter of the country’s small farmers plan to lease out their farms over the next five years, its data showed.
With local and European elections on the horizon, an Irish Farmers Journal survey showed that 11% of respondents would vote for Independent Ireland. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil polled strongly among farmers, while Sinn Féin’s support more than halved, dropping to 6%.
June
The VAT rebate debacle - which begun around the time of Ploughing 2023 - had trickled into 2024. It was finally resolved in June, but not in the farmers’ favour.
At the beginning of the month, Revenue confirmed items that were ineligible for reclaim. Automatic scrapers, additional milking units, bulk tanks in existing buildings, automatic calf feeders and small feed bins were all in the firing line.
Beef prices increased by 5c/kg, with further rises expected.
West was best when Department analysis showed that west of Ireland farmers were in line to receive a €15m convergence boost.
Scheme worries were in the spotlight towards the end of the month. Delays to around 20,000 ACRES balancing payments were announced, with the Department citing ongoing IT issues.
Fertiliser was also in the headlines. The Acorn group of independent merchants claimed a black market was emerging as a result of the new Department fertiliser register.
July
The 6 July edition of this publication reported that there could be 250,000 fewer straw bales in the country this year, following the previously reported 10,000ha decline in tillage area.
Some two weeks later, tillage farmer Pádraig Connery, holding a handful of straw, was the front page picture. Minister McConalogue had announced he was suspending the straw chopping scheme to allow more straw on the market.
Pádraig Connery from Clashmore, Co Waterford, on the day the suspension of the straw chopping scheme was announced. \ Patrick Browne
A number of farmers had already chopped straw, while many others had applied for the scheme and assumed its payment as per previous years. The move was met with fury from tillage farmers.
A week later, the Minister made a U-turn on the decision, following backlash from farmers, with a €174/ha baling payment also introduced.
In other news, the 2024 weanling trade started with a bang, severe lamb price cuts finally halted and Teagasc’s farm survey revealed that farm incomes were down 57% in 2023.
August
The weanling trade continued to soar into August, with top-quality bull weanlings up €160/head on the same week in 2023.
Towards the end of the month, the cattle trade continued to dominate headlines, as factories scrambled for cattle, injecting even more life into prices.
At Tullamore Show, Minister McConalogue announced he was setting up a commission on generational renewal, sparking much conversation around the possibility of a farm retirement scheme.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue speaking on the Irish Farmers Journal stand at Tullamore Show. \ Donal O'Leary
Following Tullamore, Taoiseach Simon Harris said he would bring in a key inheritance tax change in Budget 2025, which he followed through on, raising the inheritance tax band to €400,000.
A splash plate ban for farmers stocked between 100kg organic N/ha and 129kg N/ha, affecting some 15,000 farmers, was announced as of the start of 2025.
Rumours of the then potential merger between Arrabawn Co-op and a financially struggling Tipperary Co-op first began to circulate.
In further dairy news, the milk price rebound of the second half of the year saw reports of base prices heading for 50c/l, a much-needed reprieve for milk suppliers.
Finally, fertiliser was in the news all month, as it was revealed that 10% of fertiliser sold in Ireland was out of spec in 2023.
September
September kicked off with news of a major report from Brussels on overhauling CAP payments. The report’s proposals included the axing of area-based farm payment schemes.
ACRES was once again in the news, with 8,600 farmers waiting on balancing payments and a further 6,975 facing a clawback as their flat-rate payment in February was more then their actual payment.
The Ploughing saw three glorious, sunny days, lightening the mood among farmers in attendance. However, as a pre-election Ploughing, there were politicians aplenty vying for the farming vote.
Interviewed by editor Jack Kennedy, Simon Harris gets on the bike to help 'Break the Cycle' as part of Irish Country Living's campaign to raise awareness of mental health in rural Ireland at the Ploughing. \ Philip Doyle
Speaking at the event, Minister McConalogue said the European Commission’s visit to Ireland on the derogation at the time was “positive” and an “important step” in retaining it.
Schemes dominated the front page in the last week in September. It was revealed that Bord Bia was planning to revamp its Quality Assurance schemes, while a new IBR scheme was flagged ahead of Budget 2025.
October
Ahead of the looming general election, the Government announced €85m in supports for farmers in the budget.
On the cattle trade, there was frustration among farmers as a €400/head gap opened up between Irish and UK prices.
As bluetongue cases once again crept up across the UK, farmers on the island of Ireland were warned to remain vigilant.
October was another month where the ACRES debacle made the front page once again, this time reporting on the €15m to be clawed back from almost 8,700 farmers, more than previously thought.
Meanwhile, on water quality, the country’s working group on the topic recommended to the Government that straight urea should be banned from next year.
The beef trade continued to soar, with €6/kg in sight for beef finishers. Sheep prices were also moving in a positive trajectory, with between €25 and €50 more per head being paid compared with the same week in 2023.
November
With a general election set for the end of the month, November, naturally, unfolded as a very political month.
Another Irish Farmers Journal survey found that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael continued to be the two most popular parties among farmers. The then-coalition partners’ support rose 3% compared with May’s survey.
Fianna Fáil promised to deliver a farm retirement scheme as well as €350/suckler cow and €35/ewe if returned to Government.
Fine Gael leader Taoiseach Simon Harris’s election pledges to farmers included reviewing how payments are allocated among farmers and making sure payments would be more farmer-friendly.
Dean Ryan and Aidan Heaney sort through in -alf heifers before bringing them back to Aidan's home farm at Garranlea, New Inn, Co Tipperary for housing in November. \ Donal O' Leary
Outside of politics, beef prices broke €6/kg, with factories struggling for cattle for the Christmas market.
In November, what became known as “the Kerry deal” also took centre stage. Kerry Co-op and Kerry Group agreed on a proposal for the co-op to buy out Kerry Dairy Ireland - the plc’s Irish processing wing. A vote for A and B shareholders was set for mid-December.
Fourteen information meetings were organised by the co-op, with an independent information meeting also organised by the Munster Dairy Producers Organisation (MDPO).
In other co-op news, suppliers of both Arrabawn and Tipperary Co-ops voted overwhelmingly in favour of a merger.
December
The last month of the year brought some good news for farmers. Teagasc’s outlook for 2025 forecast a rebound in farm incomes in both 2024 and 2025, following a hellish 2023.
Pre-Christmas payments and balancing payments across Monday to Wednesday of the first week of December put €357m in farmers’ pockets.
The long-running Mercosur trade deal hit the headlines. Political agreement was reached between the EU and Mercosur countries. The deal allows 99,000t of beef from South America into the EU at a preferential tariff rate.
Farmers reacted angrily, with an Irish delegation attending a protest in Brussels alongside countries opposing the deal.
It was exclusively revealed by the Irish Farmers Journal that Ireland’s suckler herd was down 50,000 cows in 12 months, equating to 60 suckler farmers per week leaving the sector. The lamb trade, strong in recent months, hit €8.50/kg as the kill nosedived.
The Kerry deal got comfortably over the line on 16 December in Killarney, with 82% of eligible shareholders in attendance voting in favour of buying Kerry Dairy Ireland.
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