At the Tullamore Show, Minister for Agriculture said the outlook is now a ‘great deal’ better
EVIDENCE OF the new confidence that is sweeping through agriculture after a number of hard years was available in spades at the Tullamore Show and National Livestock Show in the Offaly capital yesterday.
More than 60,000 people attended the one-day show at the Butterfield estate, a short distance from the town.
At the official opening, Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith said he was pleased that after a very difficult few years, things were looking a great deal brighter for the sector.
“Just recently Teagasc estimated that the value of farm output will increase by over €300 million compared to last year. Obviously this is good news for farmers and their families but it is also very positive for the whole rural economy,” he said.
He said he recognised a big part of the increase in incomes this year would come from the very welcome recovery in milk prices, along with projected increase in milk output.
“Overall, Teagasc says that dairy farmers’ gross margins should increase by 70 per cent this year. This is very good news after the disastrous prices in 2009 which triggered EU market support following pressure from myself and some other agriculture,” he added.
Referring to the recently published 2020 Report on the future of Agriculture, the Minister said the sector was well placed to drive economic recovery and move food and drink exports from €7 billion to €12 billion in the period examined by the experts. Mr Smith said the Tullamore Show was now Ireland’s premier livestock and agriculture show and has gone from strength to strength.
He acknowledged the importance for everyone involved in agriculture and in particular the livestock sector, of the production of quality livestock by exhibiting our top animals on a national stage.
The Taoiseach, Mr Cowen, who broke his holidays to attend the event said everyone agreed things were markedly better than last year in farming.
“There’s a far better buzz about it, a far greater degree of confidence coming back to the industry thankfully. “That’s based on the fact we’re having better prices in milk and grain particularly this year. We’ve come through a couple of difficult years it has to be said, and farmers are just trying to get back to where they were,” he added.
“The farming community needs to know the market prices are going to be good, that there’s a return on their investment, a very significant investment that’s been made,” he went on.
“The plans recently announced for farming were positive and ambitious and would take a lot of work that should be faced into to allow the agriculture industry grow and prosper like other sectors,” he said.
Michael Dowling, head of agri-strategy at AIB, the title sponsors of the livestock show, said he was delighted things were improving in the sector after what he said was “a brace of bad years” where incomes had dropped by 40 per cent.
He said the recovery of the sector would be based on the dairy and cereals sectors and Ireland was well placed to become a major world player in the future. But the difficulties in reaching the targets set out in the 2020 report were highlighted by the Irish Farmers Association’s national livestock chairman, Michael Doran. He said to achieve the beef and livestock growth targets of 20 per cent or €300 million per annum the Minister for Agriculture must take urgent action to halt the decline in the National Suckler Cow herd.
He said due to the lack of profitability in the livestock sector at farm level, the beef herd was under severe pressure and has fallen by 150,000 head from its peak in 2005. He said this level of reduction in beef cow numbers amounts to an output loss close to €150 million each year.
He called on Mr Smith to fully restore the payment rate of €80 per cow under the Suckler Cow Welfare Scheme and insist there were no cuts to any direct payments to farmers in the next budget. “The Minister must take urgent action to halt the decline in beef cow numbers and protect Ireland’s national beef asset.”