The rural youth organisation Macra is set to stage a march with the theme ‘steps for the future’ later this evening (Tuesday, April 25) where its members will walk from Athy, Co. Kildare, where the organisation was founded, to government buildings in Dublin.
At government buildings, the outgoing Macra president John Keane will outline eight issues the organisation wants to see the government take urgent action on.
As part of the group’s diversification strategy to represent all rural youth, it has included issues such as access to rural healthcare, affordable housing and cumbersome planning guidelines, as well as the lack of public transport, as areas which need addressing.
The lack of a farming succession scheme is another issue highlighted and the organisation will also outline its concerns on proposals to rewet large areas of rural Ireland, which are all important issues which do need to be addressed.
The organisation has also taken issue with the government’s definition of a family farm as ‘average’ and ‘typical’ and the imposition of quotas on young farmers availing of grant-aid support.
These quotas refer to young farmers with between 121 and 160 dairy cows who will not be allowed to increase their cow numbers in cases where they avail of Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) funding for milking equipment.
This is a very valid concern on dairy farms which are at a scale, which will be very much impacted by this rule, and therefore it is indeed important to highlight it.
What about the drystock farmer, Macra?
However, why have the issues being faced by smaller-scale young beef, sheep and suckler farmers not been mentioned as any of the key issues being raised by Macra?
Young farmers involved in the suckler, beef and sheep sectors are faced with a whole host of issues equally as important and concerning as those faced by 120-cow dairy farms, but it seems to me that Macra has overlooked these sectors when outlining their eight key issues.
Low sheep prices over winter 2022/2023 resulted in massive drops in sheep-farmer incomes.
Suckler and beef farmers are struggling with low margins coupled with high input costs as well as price volatility, and all three sectors are struggling to secure leased land due to farmers in more profitable sectors being able to pay substantially more for it.
According to Teagasc, in 2022, the average dairy farm made a profit of €148,000 while the average cattle-rearing farm made a profit of only €8,700, yet Macra seems to feel that grants for expanding dairy farmers is a more pressing issue than those facing other sectors.
It is disheartening to see one farming sector being prioritised over the others and I don’t believe that is what the ethos of Macra should be.
All young farmers should be equally represented by the organisation regardless of their sector or size, and hopefully outgoing Macra president John Keane will remember this when outlining the organisation’s concerns at government buildings tomorrow.
The new Macra presidential team has been elected and will be led by Elaine Houlihan, and Macra members from all farming backgrounds will be hoping this team will give fair representation to all rural youth and all sectors of farming, not just the more profitable ones.