This article is from page 51 of the 2007-12-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 51 JPG
THE ICSA has joined a host of farm- ing organisations who are predicting a mass exodus from the beef and lamb markets if prices don’t rise in the coming months.
Speaking last week, ICSA president Malcolm Thompson told farmers that unless beef and lamb prices rise in line with recent cereal and dairy increases, then farmers will have to switch enterprise or get out.
Thompson was addressing the ICSA AGM and National Confer- ence, where he focused on significant differentials opening up between ce-
reals and dairying on the one hand and cattle and sheep on the other.
He argued that Ireland should look for as much extra milk quota as pos- sible with a view to facilitating new entrants and existing small and me- dium quota holders to grow substan- tially as quickly as possible.
“We need to reverse this trend. We need more people, not less, in dairy- ing. We cannot accept that by 2015 there will be only 8,500 viable, full- time farms out of a total of 125,000 farmers currently claiming the Sin- gle Farm Payment,” he said.
“The practical realities are that Ireland has the competitive advan-
tage to be the most efficient dairy farming country in Europe.
“We need to maximise the amount of competitive farms ready and able to compete when quotas go. We would like to see the entire addition- al quota targeted at helping farmers, including existing dairy farmers and new entrants to get at least 300,000 litres as quickly as possible.”
Mr Thompson also took time out to take a swipe at Minister for Ag- riculture Mary Coughlan, who had opened the congress. “The days of lazily accepting that the future for 116,500 out of 125,000 farms is via part-time farming and full-time slav-
ery must be consigned to the dust- bin,’ he said.
“Higher product prices can best be achieved by having full mobility between the different farm sectors. It requires innovative thinking with regard to marketing. It means not seeing GM as a quick-fix solution to cutting costs but rather as an impedi- ment to our clean, green image.
“It needs us to put more farmers into cereals and dairying because these are the sectors where we have competitive advantage. Above all, it requires an acceptance by supermar- kets and other retailers that the days of screwing farmers must now end.”