By Megan O’Brien
A failure to negotiate a stronger Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) deal, insufficient support for food producers and unfair burdening of farmers in relation to environmental action, are just some of the key issues in this General Election, according to dairy farmer Stephen Byrne.
The fifth generation farmer milks 115 cows and runs a spring calving system in Monasterevin, Co. Kildare.
In Byrne’s opinion there was more that the previous minister for agriculture, could have done to support farmers better particularly in relation to measures he believes should have been included in the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Schemes (TAMS).
He also believes that funding has been unfairly peeled back in the eastern and midlands regions, which is “the heart of the food producing industry”.
The difficulty is that many farmers are now being expected to take more environmental action with the same amount of money, he explained.
“There needs to be a separate pot of money if we’re going to have to do more for nitrates, forestry, water quality and so on,” he said.
There are less than 24 hours until the polls open and Agriland has been speaking to farmers about the changes they would like to see in the next government.
Dairy farmers
The retention of the nitrates derogation and a total rejection of the Mercosur trade deal are key issues that farmers all around the country have been focused on during the General Election campaign.
It is no different for Byrne who said that he would have to pull back to just over 80 cows if the derogation was lost – a move which would he believes would be devastating to his dairy farm after four years of implementing new measures.
He said: “We’ve spent a lot of money implementing measures that the government asked us to take, extra slurry storage, changing roadways, fencing off watercourses, all of that comes at a serious cost.
“Farmers are doing a lot and we need time for the improvements to be seen. I would like to see at least the time being given for those things to work.
“Also you would like to see the government coming out and saying they’re totally rejecting Mercosur, they say they won’t reject it as it is now but what does that mean?”
While Byrne does not sell beef directly, he said he does rely on local farmers to buy his culled cows and beef calves, and he is concerned about whether anyone will want them should the Mercosur deal go through.
Housing and planning issues
Byrne also spoke about the bread and butter issues of affordable housing and the cost of living, making reference to the often lengthy planning process.
“Us as farmers we have all the problems that the normal folk have too, affordable housing and supply is a problem.
“I have two sons and one of them is at the point where he’ll either need to build a house or buy a house. But house prices have gone up and if he goes looking for planning permission on the farm here there’s no guarantee he’ll get it,” he said.
He called for changes to be made that would prevent objections from parties that are over a certain distance from the site and said “the process of children applying for planning on the family farm must be streamlined”.