The Taoiseach will have an opportunity to directly address farmers and outline what he believes is the future of farming when he addresses the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) 68th annual general meeting (AGM).

The IFA's AGM tomorrow (Tuesday, January 24) will bring together the organisation's members from across the country to hear the Taoiseach discuss both the opportunities and challenges that farm families are facing in 2023.

The AGM takes place against the backdrop of the government's new Climate Action Plan 2023, a new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and soaring inflation.

The president of the IFA, Tim Cullinan, who will be one of the keynote speakers at the AGM, has previously said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar needs to "front up’" for farming and food production.

“Farming is the bedrock of the rural economy and our most important indigenous sector.

"Taoiseach Leo Varadkar needs to front up for the sector and ensure we have the right balance between environmental, economic and social sustainability,” Cullinan said last month.

The IFA has made no secret of the fact that farmers are "frustrated" by what it has described as the ‘tail wagging the dog’ in the government.

Tomorrow at the AGM IFA members will also hear from all three ministers in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, including Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue and Ministers of State, Pippa Hackett and Martin Heydon.

The ministers are scheduled to take part in a question and answer session with IFA members where it is likely they will face further questions on the controversial Gresham House/Coillte-backed forestry fund.

The IFA has highlighted that farmers are very concerned about what impact the new Gresham House Irish Strategic Forestry Fund could have on the agricultural land market.

Jason Fleming, who is the IFA forestry committee chair, has said "the focus of the state planting programme, as well as exchequer spending, should be on farmer planting". 

“With already strong demand in the agricultural land market and limited supply, the new Irish Strategic Forestry Fund is likely to further increase the competition for land, which will result in more farmers being priced out of the market," Fleming has warned.