‘There’s no farming without profit, it’ll be gone in the morning if there isn’t money’

Plus, how Irish farmers are meeting the challenge of climate change

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High input costs have seriously impacted Irish farmers over the last eighteen months. Photograph: Paulo Nunes dos Santos/Bloomberg
High input costs have seriously impacted Irish farmers over the last eighteen months. Photograph: Paulo Nunes dos Santos/Bloomberg

Farming In Ireland can often feel like a gamble, with external factors like Brexit, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine often impacting a producer’s bottom line.

Speaking to Ciaran Hancock on this week’s Inside Business, Rob Coleman, a tillage farmer in North Cork, and Shane McAuliffe, a pig farmer based in Kerry, point out that it’s not just the weather forecast that influences their decisions with input costs proving extremely expensive over the last 18 months.

Another challenge that Rob and Shane are doing their utmost to meet, is that of climate change. They explain how policy must match individual efforts if the targets for carbon emissions reductions are to be achieved.