September started with a massive – and tense – protest by European farmers in Brussels outside a meeting of the EU Agricultural Council dedicated to falling farm incomes.

European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan’s response was a €500m direct aid package for the sectors most directly affected by falling commodity prices (mostly dairying) and permission for member states to pay farmers 70% of BPS dues by the end of the year instead of 50% normally.

Further efforts to improve income support for farmers came under the form of the re-opening of the GLAS scheme by the Department of Agriculture.

Yet the deepening crisis on milk markets was illustrated by Ireland’s decision to use intervention for the first time in this round of EU support measures, followed by private storage aid later in the year.

The debate on farm incomes continued with contrasted reactions to our editorial, ”Who really benefits from a €3 chicken?”, which was reprinted in the Irish Times.

Sunny mood at Ploughing

The National Ploughing Championships held in Ratheniska was a roaring success, with another attendance record broken under sunny skies.

The mood was upbeat at the event, with ploughman Sean Treacy adding another crown to his list in the senior conventional class and continuing to win at world level a few weeks later.

Another winner was Louth pig farmer Jonathan Marry, who won the FBD Young Farmer of the Year title.

Suckler farmers, too, were winning, as they benefited from strong prices in autumn sales.

Yet a poll commissioned by the Irish Farmers Journal on the occasion of the Ploughing revealed that the fear of rural crime overshadowed most farmers’ thoughts. More than one third of farmers surveyed reported having been the victim of burglary or attempted theft.

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2015: full year in review