Sir, – One is simply astounded by the latest Teagasc report which states that the average income for dairy farmers in Ireland is now €148,000 per annum (Business, December 13th). When one compares this to the average income of €8,000 for beef farmers and the extreme losses being suffered by pig farmers, this dangerously dysfunctional state of Irish agriculture must set alarm bells ringing for all of us interested in food security and sustainability on our island.
The high net profits enjoyed by dairy farmers means that land prices have now risen to €20,000 per acre and land letting values to €500 per acre. The result is that all the land previously rented on the grain growing conacre system is now being swallowed up by those cash-rich expanding dairy farmers, with the result that feedstuffs, potatoes, etc, will have to be imported.
The only people who can address this problem are Teagasc and the Department of Agriculture, which have encouraged and handed out huge grants to the dairy sector.
Surely it is now time for them to restore some parity in farming and start assisting those sectors of agriculture which they have been neglecting for far too long. – Yours, etc,
CHARLES SMYTH,
Kells,
Co Meath.