IFA president says farmers again struggling to make a living

Sixty years after farmers came together to found a national farming association, farm families are again finding themselves under immense pressure to make a living, IFA president Eddie Downey has said.

He was speaking at a gathering to mark the 60th anniversary of the Irish Farmers’ Association, at Convention Centre Dublin. Some 1,700 farmers and people involved in the industry attended the event, as well as Ministers and former ministers, MEPs and church leaders.

The organisation, first known as the National Farmers' Association, was founded on January 6th, 1955, in the Four Provinces Ballroom on Harcourt Street in Dublin. Of the organisation's 14 presidents, nine survive and all of those were present to reflect on the past 60 years with master of ceremonies Mary Kennedy of RTÉ.

Inadequate return

Mr Downey said the organisation was set up to advance the living standards of farm families, but farmers were still faced with an inadequate return for their hard work and investment.

“Extreme price volatility, escalating input costs that bear no relation to product prices, excessive bureaucracy, the threat of damaging trade deals and the inequity in returns from the food supply chain between producers, processors and retailers must all be addressed,” he said.

Reduced margin

Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney said farmers got 30 per cent of the margin from a shopping basket 15 years ago, compared with less than 20 per cent now.

“That is something that has to change and be reversed. And this Government is committed to that, but it can only happen in the context of global and European markets now, if it happens at a European policy level,” he said.

European commissioner for agriculture Phil Hogan said he would not hesitate to call for changes so farmers were not put out of business because of poor margins.

“All players in the food chain should realise that it is imperative that producers get a decent return for their raw material. Without farmers, none of the downstream businesses would even exist,” Mr Hogan said.

He said there was no reason why Irish fertiliser prices should be forecast to increase by 7 per cent this year when crude oil prices had fallen by more than 45 per cent since June.

“I am not happy about this and I will raise this with my colleague, the commissioner for competition,” he said.