Each party has unique offerings on different aspects of farming and agriculture but for the purposes of uniformity, the Irish Farmers Journal has grouped the manifestos into the following topics

Dairy

Fine Gael – As well as convening the first ever dairy forum and paying out a €1,350 support payment to all dairy farmers last year, Fine Gael said it will push ahead with the creation of a futures market for the sector.

Labour – There is no specific mention of the dairy sector.

Fianna Fáil – Fianna Fáil, like Fine Gael, wants a future market for dairying and it said it will “push” for a review at EU level on price intervention tools.

Sinn Féin – No specific mention for the dairy sector.

Renua – Renua has proposed a price volatility fund akin to the UK Deficiency Payment Scheme of the 1950s and 1960s. The party says this will “provide income certainty at times of significant price change”.

Social Democrats – There is no specific mention for the dairy sector.

Green Party – There is no specific mention for the dairy sector.

Beef

Fine Gael – Fine Gael is promising the rollout of the €300m Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP) as well as the implementation of producer organisations and the Knowledge Transfer scheme.

Labour – There is no specific mention of the beef sector.

Fianna Fáil – This is the big-ticket item in the FF manifesto for farmers. An “enhancement” of the BDGP to bring the payment to €200/cow on the first 20 cows. It also wants to introduce an “Island of Ireland” beef label.

Sinn Féin – Sinn Féin said it will drive for the “simplification of the BDGP to encourage wider uptake”.

Renua – Renua says it would encourage and support the development of charitable trusts to encourage competition in meat processing. The trusts would provide farmers with access to their own processing facilities and sales would be facilitated by an online mart.

Social Democrats – There is no specific mention of the beef sector.

Green Party – An interesting one from the Greens. The party wants a reduction in live exports and added value in beef production through young bull and veal finishing. It says this can add €300m to the sector.

Sheep

Fine Gael – The party intends to introduce a payment on ewes that will be similar to the beef genomics programme that was introduced last year. It will not be the €20/ewe payment that many have called for.

Labour – There is no specific mention of the sheep sector.

Fianna Fáil – Alongside the €200 suckler cow payment, this is the other big item from Fianna Fáil. The party is promising a ewe payment.

Sinn Féin – There is no specific mention of the sheep sector.

Renua – Renua has promised a general support for hill and lowland sheep farmers.

Social Democrats – There is no specific mention of the sheep sector.

Green Party – The party made the broad statement that it wants to “support the generally extensive, grass-based nature of cattle, sheep and goat production in Ireland”.

Tillage/Horticulture

Fine Gael – For tillage farmers, Fine Gael said it has sought approval from the EU for a TAMS scheme to “improve efficiency and profitability”. On horticulture, the party says (twice) that it recognises the importance of the sector and will help it grow through the Food Wise 2025 plan.

Labour – There is no specific mention of tillage or horticulture sectors.

Fianna Fáil – The only mention of tillage or horticulture from Fianna Fáil is in its plan to establish a food ombudsman to protect farmers and growers.

Sinn Féin – There is no specific mention of tillage or horticulture sectors.

Renua – On the tillage side, Renua wants to see the development of a sugar plant for the beet sector to grow a domestic sugar market. There is nothing specific on the horticulture sector.

Social Democrats – There is no specific mention of tillage or horticulture sectors.

Green Party – There is no specific mention of tillage or horticulture sectors.

Pigs/Poultry/Forestry

Fine Gael – On the pigs, Fine Gael said it will “continue to pursue new and alternative markets” for pigmeat. For poultry, it said that it will address “animal health issues like campylobacter through the established working group”, while the party said its Forestry Programme targets “6,000ha of new forests in year one, increasing to 8,290ha in 2020”.

Labour - There is no specific mention for either the pig or poultry sector. On forestry, Labour, said it supports the planting of 43,000ha of new forestry.

Fianna Fáil – Like in tillage/horticulture, the only mention of poultry from Fianna Fáil is in its plan to establish a food ombudsman to protect poultry farmers. There is no specific mention of pigs or forestry.

Sinn Féin – There is no specific mention of any of these three sectors.

Renua – There is no specific mention for either the pig or poultry sector. The party is committed to afforestation for the purposes of climate change targets and biomass production.

Social Democrats – Like Renua, the Soc Dems want increased forestry to help meet climate change targets. There is no mention of the pig or poultry sectors.

Green Party – On pigs and poultry, the party said it will introduce measures “requiring all pigs and poultry to be provided with adequate space, natural light and opportunities to carry out their natural behaviours”. The Green Party has the largest mention of forestry of any party’s manifesto. It said that it recognises “the ecological and social value of forests, the economic value of timber for construction, manufacture and biomass, Ireland’s superior climate for growing trees and the threats of climate change”.