The final Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) branch annual general meetings (AGMs) are taking place tonight (Wednesday, November 29).
It marks the last opportunity for IFA members to cast their votes in-person in the association’s presidential elections.
Over recent weeks, more than 930 branch AGMs have taken place, with proceedings now complete across 25 county executives.
The nine remaining branch AGMs are taking place tonight in Cork Central, Cork West, Donegal and Kerry.
Elections
For the first time, IFA members will receive their ballot paper in the post. They can either return it by post or cast their ballot at their branch AGM.
Any members who have not received a voting pack are asked to contact their local IFA office.
The closing date for the receipt of completed ballots is Monday, December 11.
It is understood that well over 10,000 members have already returned their ballots by post.
In 2019, a total of 22,998 votes were cast by members of the IFA in the presidential elections.
At that time membership of IFA was around 72,000 which resulted in a voter turnout of just below 32%.
Agriland understands that the farm organisation is expecting that more votes will be cast in this election and that more ballots will be returned by post than through the branch AGMs.
Both the IFA president and deputy president are elected through a national vote at branch level, in which all association members are entitled to vote.
There are two candidates bidding to succeed Tim Cullinan as IFA president: Martin Stapleton and Francie Gorman.
Gorman, the current IFA South Leinster Regional chair, is a suckler beef and sheep farmer from Ballinakill in Co. Laois . He is married to Kay, with whom he has a son, Tom.
Stapleton is the current IFA National Treasurer and a dairy farmer from Oola, Co. Limerick. He is married to Siobhan and the couple has three teenage children.
There are also two candidates hoping to become the next IFA deputy president: Alice Doyle and Pat Murphy.
Murphy is the Connacht Regional chair and a dairy farmer from Co. Galway, while Doyle, who is from Co. Wexford, is the current IFA Farm Family Committee chair.
The election count will take place on Tuesday, December 12 at the Castleknock Hotel in Dublin.
IFA
Meanwhile, IFA president Tim Cullinan has welcomed the announcement of the new agri-food regulator board and the start date next month of the Agri-Food Regulator (An Rialálaí Agrabhia).
“It has been a long campaign to get this established. Wednesday, December 13 will be a significant day in working towards the rebalancing of the food supply chain,” Cullinan said.
“An Rialálaí Agrabhia will play a very important role in bringing fairness back into our food supply chain and level the playing pitch in negotiations between farmers, processors and retailers,” he added.
Former IFA president Joe Healy will chair the board and Tim Cullinan wished him well in his work.
In conjunction with her new role as chief executive of the Agri-Food Regulator, Niamh Lenehan will continue as head of Unfair Trading Practices (UTP) Enforcement Authority.
The farm organisation said that is looking forward to engaging with Lenehan on behalf of farmers, in particular those in the fresh produce sectors, who are so reliant on the retail sector.
The number of fruit and vegetable growers has been in decline for the past 20 years due to margin pressures exerted on growers from the top of the food chain.