MORE THAN 10,000 farmers yesterday attended an open day to discuss the future of Irish agriculture and to be given advice on steering their way through the recession and banking crisis.
There were few with a spring in their step because, over the past year, dairy farmers have been producing milk at break-even or below cost. The bigger the farmer, the bigger the hit, as world markets have collapsed and demand and prices weakened.
Yesterday they came in search of answers and to see if Teagasc could help. The agriculture and food development authority had billed the event as one which would help the dairymen survive and put forward short-term strategies to survive.
Teagasc director Prof Gerry Boyle explained it had already set up a new financial service open to all farmers who required assistance in cash flow planning or in their preparation to meet their financial institutions or bank.
The organisation had also met the major banks, farm organisations and merchants to stress there were cash flow difficulties on all farms but some were more serious than others. The dairy farms were generally viable and profitable in the long term.
Dairy farmers have traditionally been top of the heap, with money and land and a monthly cheque for the product which until recently was known as “white gold”.
And over recent decades the big day out for the dairy farmers and their families was the Teagasc Open Day, at Moorepark, Fermoy, Co Cork, which normally happened on Corpus Christi.
Farmers packed into a marquee to hear how five of Ireland’s youngest and best dairy farmers have been managing in this most difficult of years.
These young men – Kevin Twomey, John MacNamara (Limerick), Eddie O’Donnell (Tipperary), Philip Donohoe (Carlow) and Damien McEntee (Monaghan) – fielded questions on how they had managed everything from grass growth to their finances.
In contrast with most of the visitors, they were upbeat, saying although times were bad, there was a future for those who amended their plans and took on board the advice available.
Teagasc’s manual for farmers, the Grazing Notebook, which simplifies grazing management practices so farmers can maximise grass growth through the year, was launched at the event.
Farmers were warned to implement plans within the next three weeks to ensure they have adequate supplies of animal feed next winter because of the severe damage to grassland by bad weather, which is estimated to have hit pasture growth by 40-50 per cent.
Some of the farmers were fairly confused about one sight yesterday: cows with what appeared to be rucksacks on their backs about to depart for better pasture. However, it emerged the cows were part of a study group being monitored for methane emissions.
The animals were fed on different diets to determine how methane levels could be reduced by amending feed and thus reducing one of our largest sources of methane.