Macra na Feirme is asking its members to support a rally of farmers in Dublin later this month to highlight that “young farmers are the future of our agricultural and food production industry”.
The rally is being organised by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) and is set to take place on Sunday, November 21.
The demonstration will take place under the slogan of ‘Save Irish Farming”.
Macra national president John Keane called on his fellow members to “get behind” the rally, saying that Macra “have consistently called on the government to recognise the importance of encouraging the next generation into agriculture”.
“Young farmers are the future of our agricultural and food production industry.
“We recognise that environmental sustainability is vitally important for ourselves, our families and the future generations of farm families and we also recognise that economic and social sustainability are equally as important for the future of the agri-business industry and wider rural communities,” Keane said.
Farmers and their families are being asked to gather for the rally at 1100:am in Merrion Square, Dublin on Sunday week.
“We are encouraging every Macra club member and county executive to support the farm family rally as a show of solidarity with our young farmers and the next generation who need to know that farming and food production is a viable livelihood for their future,” Keane concluded.
Keane will himself address the rally on the day.
The IFA has said that the event will have “a strong family focus“.
“The farm family is the cornerstone on which the wider agri-food sector is built. Our event in Merrion Square on Sunday week will see different generations come to Dublin to interact with families outside the farming community,” IFA president Tim Cullinan said this week.
“We want to send a positive message about what we do and how important that is in terms of producing high-quality food; supporting rural Ireland; and contributing to the Irish economy as a whole,” Cullinan added.