Suckler farming is a challenging space at the moment, Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity at the Department of Agriculture Pippa Hackett has said.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal at Beef 2022, she said that farming was currently at a difficult crossroads, adding “but, thankfully, prices are good not only for beef farmers but across the board and I think that is helpful at this stage.

“I’m here like everyone else to see what we can do around beef and how we can produce it more sustainably.”

She said it is interesting to see what work is coming out of Teagasc and emphasised the benefits of multispecies swards and clover mixes in reducing costs for farmers.

“I’m a suckler beef farmer myself. I know the difficulties; I’ve been doing it for 25 years with my husband. It’s a challenging space.

“I think whatever we can do to make it more viable and more sustainable for farm families and more profitable, that’s going to be ever important moving forward,” she said.

Future of beef

Despite the challenges, Minister Hackett said that she is an “adamant supporter” of beef and suckler farming and is of the belief that it plays a special role in Ireland.

“We can farm with beef and promote biodiversity on farm at the same time. I know many farmers across the country who are doing that,” she said.

She was hopeful of a bright future ahead for beef farming and said that it was adaptable to meeting many biodiversity targets.

Organics

The minister said that farmers should keep their options open and events like Beef 2022 are very important for farmers to take on information.

“There’s all sorts of ways to produce beef. You can have sheds of bull-beef, extensively reared beef and organically reared beef.

“I’m obviously a fan of organic production. It’s not the be-all and end-all but I think for suckler farmers and sheep farmers, in particular, it’s really something that they absolutely should look at,” she said.