Good week for…

  • Lisavaird suppliers, whose co-op topped the Irish Farmers Journal/KPMG Milk Price Review for 2016.
  • Irish cattle producers, as Italian buyers are looking for more weanlings and beef and a new Japanese trade deal could create demand for an extra 20,000t of Irish beef.
  • Tim Cullinan, as his campaign with Tipperary IFA leads to a review of farm inspections by the Department of Agriculture.
  • Straw sellers, as the Bord na Mona biomass plant in Edenderry will need 60,000t of straw next year.
  • Girl power as an all-female silage crew in Waterford prepares to set a Guinness world record.

    • Bad week for…

  • Grain growers who have been camped out in the Department of Agriculture in a protest over the proposed tillage crisis fund.
  • LacPatrick suppliers, whose milk price lagged 6c/l behind the highest-paying co-op last year.
  • Farmers with calves and weanlings, as the incidence of lungworm has increased dramatically.
  • Anyone using sprays, as the noose tightens on up to 80 pesticides, including the widely used rush spray MCPA.
  • GLAS farmers, as more than 20,000 nutrient management plans have not yet been submitted to trigger payment.