Farming Independent

26/07/2024

Diversifying has been a big hit for Johnny Lynch, with Macroom Buffalo Mozzarrella stocked in most of the major supermarkets across the country and a range of new products recently launched or in the pipeline. He explains how the end of milk quotas forced his hand

In 2009, Johnny Lynch and his wife Geraldine were milking fewer than 40 cows on their Cork farm. With the removal of milk quotas in the offing, they knew things had to change to ensure the future of the farm.

26/07/2024

It’s no wonder farmers are angry with the processors

It turns out that the constant refrain of beef farmers that they’re getting “screwed by beef factories” is completely right.

26/07/2024

Ireland’s low-input, low-cost system was fine in theory – but now we don’t have enough grass and a rethink is required

I’m not sure which is more frustrating at the moment, trying to grow grass or the lack of joined-up political thinking to solve challenges for farming.

26/07/2024

‘He refuses to accept the marriage is over, even though I have met someone else. My job has financed the farm for 10 years – he says it’s not viable if we split up. I don’t want to move the kids out of the house on the farm. What are my options?’

Query: I want to separate from my husband, but it’s going to be a messy situation and I need some advice. We have two children and are still living together in the house on the farm, even though our marriage is over as far as I am concerned.

26/07/2024

Kevin Skelly (53) died at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin on May 9, 2022, from injuries he had sustained six weeks earlier on his farm at Carrickboy

A Longford farmer suffered fatal head injuries after falling 16 feet to the ground while accessing bales of hay in a shed two years ago, an inquest has heard.

25/07/2024

Smart debt management can make a big difference to cash-flow and farm profits – not to mention wellbeing.

In 1789 Benjamin Franklin stated that nothing was certain except death and taxes.

25/07/2024

The south Galway farmer accused of throwing a bag of cow dung in the direction of Minister for State, Anne Rabbitte has told a court that "it is a small incident and something I probably should regret".

25/07/2024

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has done a u-turn on his suspension of the Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM), putting the scheme back on the table while introducing a concurrent €175/ha baling option.

24/07/2024

Richard Hackett an agronomist based in North Co Dublin says the Straw Incorporation Scheme directly attacked the delicate relationship that exists between competing sectors in agriculture

‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help”. Ronald Reagan said these were “the nine most terrifying words in the English language”.

24/07/2024

A worker who alleged health and safety procedures were “neglected” at the Dawn Meats factory in Waterford because of Covid-19 pandemic pressure in the winter of 2020 has won €15,000 for discrimination after the Workplace Relations Commission ruled he was dismissed because of a back injury.

23/07/2024

With 100 buses a day passing on narrow roads, local farmers have to move cattle and get contractors in at 5am – and they are demanding that some of the country’s tourism profits are invested in roadways

The Wild Atlantic Way is one of the most successful tourism initiatives ever introduced in Ireland. Since it was developed, the number of people employed in tourism in Ireland has grown by an estimated 35,000, with many of these jobs created in rural communities where employment is scarce.

23/07/2024

Don’t engage with the anti-farm lobby, urges Cameron Henderson – you’ll look defensive and you’ll be losing in the eyes of the public. Instead, farming can improve its sustainability and its image by taking small steps, with proper incentives

New Zealand dairy farmer and director at DairyNZ, Cameron Henderson, advises fellow farmers across the globe to avoid the ‘emotional response’ to criticism of agriculture.

23/07/2024

Sales by auction are the exception rather than the rule when it comes to farmland in Connacht/Ulster, where there is a much busier private treaty market.

23/07/2024

North Leinster land is always a solid, steady performer, but it often comes up with a surprise.

23/07/2024

Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue is set to meet with farm leaders today in a bid to find a resolution to the uncertainty that surrounds the Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM).

23/07/2024

“We’re going nowhere on forestry,” Mark McAuley, Director of Forest Industries Ireland, has said, stressing the future of the sector is in jeopardy as restrictions on land eligibility stymie efforts to increase tree planting.

23/07/2024

Rumours that changes to the terms and conditions of the Organic Farming Scheme were on the cards were dismissed by Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue at the INHFA AGM last week.

23/07/2024

Better grass growth sparks reversal in fortunes

The mart trade took another twist last week when, despite continuing unseasonally high numbers and factory price pulls, prices for bullocks and heifers steadied and then improved

23/07/2024

Teagasc National Farm Survey identifies huge declines in farm incomes in 2023. Dairy incomes down over €108,000

23/07/2024

Darragh McCullough: You could make arguments for or against the Straw Incorporation Measure… but at the stroke of a pen, tillage farmers’ plans were in tatters

To chop or not to chop? That’s the question facing hundreds of tillage farmers this week as they try to work out what Charlie McConalogue’s next move is.

23/07/2024

There are increasing calls to limit farm inheritance tax reliefs for wealthy non-farmers amid a surge in land prices.

22/07/2024

Does a handshake have any legal standing in this context? Can I enforce the agreement?

Query: Dear Mary Frances, I have always dreamed of owning a house in the country with enough land to keep a pony or two. I have a house with hardly any land, and then a year ago, I believed my dream had come true when I reached a verbal agreement with a local farmer to buy 2ac of land surrounding my...

22/07/2024

“There is too much volatility in it at the moment”

This year is proving to be a bit of a rollercoaster for sheep farming in Ireland.

20/07/2024

Tillage farmers who signed up for the Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) now look set to receive the payment even if they don’t chop their straw.

18/07/2024

Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said inheritance tax in Ireland is “punitive,” raising the likelihood of the burden on families being significantly reduced in the Budget on October 1.

18/07/2024

Ursula von der Leyen pledged to maintain the European Union's climate ambitions, bolster competitiveness and strengthen defense industries as she sought to lock down a second term as head of the bloc's executive arm.

18/07/2024

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has confirmed he does not intend to backtrack on his decision to suspend the Straw Incorporation Scheme, despite widespread backlash, including criticism from coalition colleague Minister of State Martin Heydon.

18/07/2024

IFA and Irish Grain Growers (IGG) have demanded an urgent reversal to the Minister for Agriculture’s decision to seek EU approval to suspend the Straw Incorporation Scheme on the back of concerns over fodder shortages.

18/07/2024

"If I can make nearly €1,500 just on burgers out of a heifer that a normal factory would deem mediocre, then how much are they making out of the rest of a heifer like her?," writes Hannah Quinn-Mulligan

It turns out that the constant refrain of beef farmers that they’re getting “screwed by beef factories” is completely right.

17/07/2024

Farmers can breathe a sigh of relief as the proposed changes to the Nitrates Action Programme, which include reducing chemical nitrogen allowances for more intensive farms and introducing a lower allowance for extensive farmers, will not take effect until 2025.