It may be 2024 but listening to some people still talking about last year, one might be led to believe that 2023 was the worst ‘weather year’ in history in regard to farming.
I would beg to differ.
For those of a certain age, 1985 will always retain that ‘accolade’. It started raining in early May, and the skies were still opening on a daily basis come December. It truly was biblical stuff.
Coincidentally, 1985 also followed a year in which tillage farmers achieved record yields.
Global warming has now become the go-to reason when anything of a challenging nature impacts on agriculture. I remain to be convinced.
My rationale for making this point goes back to the great ‘white out’ of December 2010.
Back then, some meteorologists tried to blame climate change for all of the snow and record low temperatures that brought the island of Ireland almost to a standstill for an entire month. But, that’s enough commentary about the weather. It’s time to look forward.
2024
With today being January 1, 2024, comes the opportunity to make real and positive plans for the future.
The next few weeks will see new hands on the tillers of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA).
Let’s hope the next 12 months will constitute a break out period for both farm organisations.
Something needs to be done urgently to sort out the disconnect that now exists between farmers and the Irish public at large.
Do people living in our towns and cities have any connection, whatsoever, with the rural way of life?
It makes perfect sense then that all of our farming organisations should have the ability and the wherewithal to communicate effectively with those in our society who are not directly involved in the farming, agri-business or food sectors.
Taking Irish consumers for granted could turn out to be one of the biggest mistakes ever made by our farming leaders.
One of the most interesting presentations I heard over the past 12 months was given by a poultry specialist, who indicated that policies emanating from the European Union and international bodies, such as the United Nations, are now framed by the lobbying activities of ‘think tanks’.
These organisations are liberally funded courtesy of endowments provided by the likes of tech corporations.
And these bodies are ‘uber’ effective in securing the policy changes they set out to achieve. This is why Brussels is no longer the friendly place it once was for Irish farming organisations.
So, all of this behoves the question – when does the fight back by Irish agriculture begin?
Or perhaps a more relevant question might be – when does Irish agriculture stop talking to itself, and start to embrace the real communication challenge of the 21st century?