Minister McConalogue addresses Macra Ag Conference this weekend

The annual Macra Agricultural Conference was opened on Saturday by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.  In his opening statement, Minister McConalogue reiterated his commitment to young farmers and female farmers.

Following the Minister’s address, the floor was opened to delegates to put questions to the Minister.  The questions to the Minister covered a number of farming topics from the draining of rivers to knowledge transfer. 

Macra’s Chair of Agricultural Affairs, Liam Hanrahan, asked a question in relation to generational renewal and succession. 

The Minister responded to this by outlining the high level of CAP funding available under the new CAP, he went on to highlight that during the discussions in advance of the current CAP, the Minister had visited every county to ascertain farmers’ priorities. 

This along with a governmental priority that the government should be investing on making farms as efficient as possible rather than paying people to leave the sector.

Macra President Ms. Elaine Houlihan said “it is disappointing that the government took such a binary view on generational renewal.  

“With one third of farmers over the age of 65, it is hard to understand how the government can turn a blind eye to the aging profile of our farmers and expect the changes that we all know are required.”

Ms Houlihan added “we need a paradigm shift to our current model of thinking to achieve generational renewal, relying on an inheritance model will not result in meaningful change to the number of young active farmers entering farming.

“Switching to a succession model which Macra is proposing, focuses on getting young active farmers involved in viable farm businesses in the right place and at the right time.” 

The Minister was asked about the “Forgotten Farmers” and also funding for the Land Mobility service run out of Macra.  

The Minister has given an assurance that the forgotten farmers have not been forgotten again, he also indicated that it is anticipated that the Land Mobility service should be seeking European Innovation Partnership funding, instead of relying on DAFM funding. 

 In response Ms. Houlihan said “the forgotten farmers are having difficulty believing that they will be remembered, their case has been running on and on for several years. 

In relation to the Land Mobility Service, looking to the Netherlands we see that they have just started their own Land Mobility Service, the Dutch government saw fit to fund this service at a level of €300k in year one.  

In Ireland with such a need to facilitate land transfer, it is disappointing to see a degree of hand washing by the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine with our own Land Mobility Service.”