Thanks to all who tuned in tonight from Louth, where Matthew and Bill ran a great show and kept things on time and the lively and very respectful crowd.
The three are now finishing their round up. Henry is first to speak. He’s a farmers’ man and will never forget the farmers’ view.
Joe says the extraordinary set of events led us to this event tonight and it;s now time to call it as it is. The next President needs a broad range of experience.
Flor says we must remember that IFA is about lobbying and can look to return a fair price on farmers’ behalf and has experience to lead the organisation.
Oh no I think he lost the room by mentioning there might be a few positions up for grabs at Co AGM!!!
They remind branch chairman that it’s important to get people out to vote and Friday is membership closing date to vote!!!
Local branch details of meetings and voting being reminded by Matthew and Bill – no proxy votes this time and one member one vote!
Joe says the Minister has got a free ride, and if he didn’t tillage, milk, beef selling under the cost of production! The Beef Forum has done nothing for Irish farmers. Even up to Christmas he got a free ride on the Beef Forum, all he came out with was a push for producer organisations. That was our time to show the IFA was bigger than any one and we shoudl have walked out of that forum. He needed the IFA around that table. He’s happy to deliver nothing for farmers if we’re happy to take it.
As regards a political career, he says, he’ll be back farming when he’s finished
Henry says that on the beef side he pressurised all he could. Food Harvest 2020 – we thought the beef side was flawed all along. We see what happens when we go over 30,000 cattle a week. There was huge pressure put on by IFA on that report. But the IFA President was not on that board (Food harvest 2020) and the 2030 report has to put farm incomes first on any expansion plan.
He’s finishing his political career in IFA!
Flor says “definitely no” to a political career. He’s going back to Kenmare if he’s not elected.
He says that a motion of no confidence was put out by his committee on rural development in the Minister but was not put forward by IFA. But he says IFA must keep pressure on the Minister and accepts that more pressure shoudl have been put on Coveney.
Are the three open to taking on the next Minister for Agriculture better than Simon Coveney was taken on? And are the three using this to further their political careers…
Matthew says we don’t have to use all the time left on the clock….but the floor are happy to keep asking questions!
And we’re back to incomes from John Roche…
Flor says co-ops must provide a fund to help farmers. they need us and our image. We need something back out of them. If you look at the Kerry and Glanbia they have huge profits and it’s our raw materials that are achieving them. We are efficient
Joe says that prices are irrelevant if there is not a margin for the farmers. He was delighted about the fertiliser report and the cost of farmers across Europe.
Henry says that with the formation of a Government is how are they going to put money back into agriculture. Our own Government needs to back up their talk and put money into it.
Flor says full transparency around where people’s money is spent. A lot of hard decisions will be taken, especially if the money is not there. Transparency is about finding out where the problems are. IF you plaster over the cracks the foundations will give way in the future. Full transparency is needed. There was never a Kerryman not willing to name names or take on a battle!
Joe says we can’t have a situation where the new team goes in and the other skeletons start to come out of the closet. There was a 50-50 split on national council on whether we should bring things in or just look to the future. I would be very clear – we have to learn from your past to move forward. I will make the tough decision and name names and go back beyond 2009, he says.
Henry – yes we need to go back to the core and those issues will be worked through and policy will be brought forward for the members to decide on. Tough decision and naming names will be done, he assures the floor.
Once upon a time there was an organisation that represented farmers and then a little rot set in and the grass roots huffed and puffed…and I’m not say the three men here the three little pigs, but will you plaster over the rot or will you see where it is?
Henry says on the retailers they are not willingly going to take those practices and stop below cost selling, it will take legislation. He says it took 2 years of wheeling new zealnad lamb out of supermarkets before they got rid of it and a label brought in to differentiate lamb from Northern Ireland and the south. He says on the veg protest – the growers are down to small numbers and they are not in a position to protest or they will be delisted. the organisation has to back those people and done some of the work. We should as beef or sheep farmers help the veg growers out.
Abattoirs close when supermarkets move in and the butcher can’t compete. We can have as many abattoirs as we like but where will we sell the produce?
Joe says food is a pawn and the five main supermarkets has an end price that is high enough to go after a margin. EU support is needed in it. Aldi and Lidl – Germany supermarkets – have legislation banning below cost in their home country and that’s the first that has to happen.
Abattoirs, he says, have nearly all closed down due to bureracy (there’s that word I can’t spell) and legislation and pressure out a lot of them out. Some of the standards push people out of business. The Friendly Farmer in Athenry slaughters poultry and he’s doing well Joe says.
Flor says the supermarkets ombudsman won’t work effectively. Guidelines are not good enough. The middle men has to be tackled. He will focus on these individuals profiteering on farmers.
On abattoirs says more local ones would give farmers an outlet for butchers heifers. Legislation has put them out of business – the standards are so severe.
Back to the supermarkets at war with each other over selling farmers produce as low as possible…we have to attack that and the layer of middle men who are taking millions of our money from us.
Gerry says there shoudl be rural development money for an abattoir in each county.
The room is shutting in 15 mins but Matthew says we won’t be finished for that….
Henry says everyday we go out to protest we don’t always get what we want. its a hard slog, its not as simple as putting your hand in someones pocket and taking what you want. we have to be targetted with our protests. Communication is a key word – members need to understand about having ownership in the protest and the plan. Once we have the threat to affect someone else business and do it right, it would be much better if we could go in and get what we want without protesting..
Joe says the different between Irish and French protesters is that the Irish light the fires outside the factories! He says he has more or a problem when the beef protest finished, as he saw two lorries of cattle parking up the road – they knew what was happening and he felt like a fool outside the gate. Legislation that bans below cost selling and hello money must be in place. if that doesn’t work it’s call on your strength in numbers. And we stand until we get results
Flor says the whole way we communicate our message to our members leaves a lot to be desired. On the beef side we need more of the finishers on board, there has to be more thinking and ideas there. We have to bring the members with us, the people on the ground have to be behind the protest. the first thing the new president should do is bring the beef finishers on board. We have to get back to moving with the ordinary members on the ground and involve them in the decision making
Denis says the future of protest in the IFA…Michael Berkery used to pride himself in putting 10,000 people on the streets, but it was the same 10,000. Some times it worked, other times we wondered what we were doing there…it’s disheartening to go to Dublin, listen to a few speeches and no real message and go home. Communication needs to improve, he says, be it if you’re standing out side the meat plants or wanting to know what’s the message.
And now we’re onto the questions. It’s a very polite crowd here tonight, the presidential candidates are wished the best and a round of applause for them for putting themselves forward
I’m not sure how these guys are still going…and are still enthusiastic about it all!
Tonight’s debate sees Flor, then Joe and finally Henry to wrap up their speeches.
I know you’ve all read them before but our full profiles of the candidates can be found at https://www.agriland.ie/ifa-election-2016/
And these are the candidates – all six of them – with Louth Co Chairman Matthew McGreehan
Anthony (no relation to Bill!) Clinton has been helping Matthew here tonight and ensures the candidates get a fair look in!
And that’s the deputies done and dusted for the evening….
Nigel and Pat are tired of each other….that’s all I’m saying about that!
Michael Smith from Knockbridge has the honour of the final question to that deputy candidates, and wants to know a lot of cattle have been lost from the misuse of poultry litter…
Pat says this was an issue in Cork a few years back…so he’s leaving it to Nigel to answer that…
Richard says west Limerick has a strong concentration of poultry and the issue has abated there as the litter is ploughed in and closely monitored.
Nigel’s ground here (the 40min bell goes off…so he make keep it short)..the problem is the location to he border that a lot of litter comes in from Northern Ireland and is effecively being dumped. (Michael agrees). Nigel says he’s talked to the Department and Minister Coveney about it. The solution acc to Coveney is a litter burning facility..there is talk of one being built in Monaghan to generate electricity and anaerobic digestors in Donegal may be able to handle some of it.
Nigel is first up – says supermarkets margins have to be minimum of 33% and agrees some producing potatoes and veg have been hammered, playing one off against their neighbour.
Bord Bia gets €5.7m from farmers every year…and farmers don’t benefit from it. a lot of questions need to be asked.
Richard says its very hard to disagree with what Gerry says and that below cost selling should be banned. It makes people think food should be cheap. There is no advantage to farmers food being sold below the cost of production. The Quality Assurance mark is needed for trade abroad but we don’t need Bord Bia to going to such extremes in terms of the inspections.
Pat says the last EU Commissioner was not the farmers friend. As regards the supermarkets no food should be given away for nothing, a race to the bottom will move to other sectors and we should be more united.
I lied, that was Gerry not John asking questions from the floor…
Bord Bia are slaughtering farmers, John from the floor says, they have killed the spud industry and some multiples are selling a low grade mince with a Bord Bia quality assurance that has 15% fat and 15% collagen in the product…why is this happening
Call for an enquiry like the banking enquiry into the supermarkets and below cost selling…can we continue to give them 50% margin on everything they sell and allow them to sell produce at 29c??
Matthew is naming and shaming those at the back that there are seats at the front! Love it…
Eamon McIntyre congratulates those at the top table for putting themselves forward but says the disposable income on farms is gone. Where will family farm income come from in the next few years?
Pat says the growing world population has to be fed and the farmer has to be supported or there will be no food. Governments must be lobbied to get these prices…product price is not going to increase enough, lobbying must ensure supports.
Richard says product price is where it should come from but says it can’t be a free for all…and if product price doesn’t deliver Europe has to go back to a CAP that provides food security in Europe
Nigel says with six children he needs money to support his family and it won’t come from CAP. Don’t cod yourself he says, Germany is paying the money and all it wants is greening. It has to come from product price and premium product must be rewarded. If you’re producing a premium product why are you getting a premium price! We have the Rolls Royce of product
Nigel says a major mistake farmers have made is diluting shares below 51% and that’s not good. Carbery co-op he says is an example of how co-ops should work
Richard says the Brussels office and Dublin office to be staffed by the best people IFA can get. But you have to be competitive in the market to get the right people and we have to pay the Irish wages.
Pat says first and foremost he’s a farmer and that’s where he gets his income and he wants to get farm incomes increased for famers. The vast majority of staff in IFA have not got an increase in many years…some people have been overpaid and if there are more being overpaid we have to find out what the salaries are and then do something about it.
If you pay peanuts you get monkeys..well one audience member says IFA has been paying a lot more than peanuts and has been getting monkeys…
I spot former Macra President Colm Markey holding up the back wall of the room!
Nicholas Cooney wants more details about how the candidates are going to tackle below low cost selling.
Pat says the last Minister has let farmers down and he hopes the last will look after rural Ireland better, he’s the number 1 target then the Commissioner. The strategy is to lobbying…IFA is a lobbying organisation and the power of 90,000 farmers cannot be ignored.
Richard’s strategy is to solve it by European legislation. Below cost selling is a European issue and must be dealt with through legislation
Nigel agrees with Richard – it will take European legislation and the first part of that is that the IFA must join with the European farm organisations to push for leglislation through MEPs
Woop, the room is almost full…seats only available at the front of the room!
Another salaries question from John Roche – but those of the farmers, which he says are heading down….
Nigel says unity among farmers is vital to fight the cause of incomes.
Richard says he’s here to fight for farm incomes and if people have contracts in the association who are working for the association it may be difficult to deal with.
Pat says for far too long our eye in IFA has been off the ball and that has to be turned around.
Peter Shields, Cooley, wants full disclosure of salaries…
Pat Farrell says he will be focusing on benchmarking of salaries.
Richard Kennedy says a scale for salaries must be established. Announcing everyone’s individual salaries is not the way to go.
Nigel Renaghan says full transparency on all monies is necessary
Matthew has set a clock – 40 minutes – for questions…
And here’s what they’re facing…a compact but interested crowd!
The view of the top table!
First up tonight was Kildare man Pat Farrell and then Limerick man Richard Kennedy and Nigel is last to speak
I like Matthew’s chairmanning skills…he’s keeping the deputy candidates to task on time!
Well, after some initial wifi issues (read: my dinner arrived a bit late) we’re all off with the Deputy Presidents
Co Chairman Matthew McGreehan is hopeful tonight gets busier, as it’s a slow start here trying to fill the room, we’re hopeful too!
Even Flor is heading home to Kerry (well half way tonight) for St Patrick’s Day tomorrow
Tonight we’re in Dooley’s of Edmonstown, just outside Ardee and at 20.10 things have yet to kick off. However, we’re in the home stretch now with just three debates next week and one the following week before voting starts.