Farm Organisations

paddysdream

Lots of opinions on here re. farming,the future of farming etc. so;

If ye were to do a (hostile!) takeover of an existing farmer organisation or start a new one ,what would the aims,tactics etc be?

How to get more people interested,active in farming politics and why are they not at the present.

CAP is (according to Coveney but not according to O Cuiv)decided and a done deal until 2019 so lets just see what could have been done different and when its time to renegoitate in 2019 what should Irelands position be taking into consideration where we will actually be at that time.

Also rem. that farming is just one part of Europe's budget,interest etc and not everybody sees it the way we do.

Can we,or should we be interested in,getting urban dwellers interested in where their food comes from and how its produced.

Are bord bia a useless quango or a vital part of Irelands farming sector?

Irish people in general and farmers particulary,whilst talking radically,seem to prefer compromise unlike our French counterparts so lets be realistic.

Are marches,protest's, blockades and boycott's the answer all of the time,some of the time or a waste of time?Would people prefer talks and a quiet word in the right person's ear plus compromise or direct radical action?

Are farm leaders out of touch and too old or is it because those with the time to commit are older with the edge removed and comfortable with their farms built up and therefore have the time?

Realistic expectations re. what the markets can return for our produce.No use thinking 6 euro a kilo will be a runner for beef.

Do ye see a role for seperate organisations for each sector or are Irish farmers better off with one catch all union?

Should a distinction be made between those living completely or mainly from farming and those for whom its a hobby or weekend job?

Should the government be more or less involved in the day to day buisness(where allowed by the EU) ie sorting out the present beef crisis or the rapidly ageing profile of Irish farmers.

What should our farm leaders be looking for from the government and the EU,both short term and in the longer term?

Which sectors will be worthwhile investing in and what should be done to encourage this?

Is the future one of mainly part time farming whilst relying on subs with a few commercial farmers and if so is this a good thing or should something be done about it.

That doesn't read great but think you should get the gist of it ie what do ye see as the way forward(in a Bertie Aherne sense!!)
Any and all answers needed from those with all the answers.

Mad4simmental

I was thinking the same myself today. I think your quote

"Can we,or should we be interested in,getting urban dwellers interested in where their food comes from and how its produced."

This is going to be very important going forward. Regardless of what we as farmers think, I think that this is a swing consumers are starting to do at the moment. When I was in Austraila the amount of local markets for local food was amazing. Even in Melbourne a huge city you could find very busey little food markets. Granted they could grow every fruit and veg under the sun but I do think we need to start thinking more local.

I said

Mad4simmental wrote: »

I was thinking the same myself today. I think your quote

"Can we,or should we be interested in,getting urban dwellers interested in where their food comes from and how its produced."

This is going to be very important going forward. Regardless of what we as farmers think, I think that this is a swing consumers are starting to do at the moment. When I was in Austraila the amount of local markets for local food was amazing. Even in Melbourne a huge city you could find very busey little food markets. Granted they could grow every fruit and veg under the sun but I do think we need to start thinking more local.

Great idea but how are you going to compete against veg for 6cent every now and then price dominates the choice

rancher

I said wrote: »

Great idea but how are you going to compete against veg for 6cent every now and then price dominates the choice

Even green grocers are getting a raw deal at the moment.
2019 farm organisation, won't need a hostile take over, there'll be an election for 90% of the positions in IFA by the end 2019, most of them by 2018

moy83

Loads to chew on there paddy . I think Bord Bia could be improved on and maybe educate the urbanites and those farther away about our green and traceable beef , lamb and dairy . Try and make our produce in more demand than other eu products if possible .

Dont be daft

I said wrote: »

Great idea but how are you going to compete against veg for 6cent every now and then price dominates the choice

I think the point is you don't compete with them.
You offer a product so different that it's not in the same market as retailers produce.

Make it different by making it local and direct, make the market by shaping our food culture and consumer opinions.

Very complex aspirations and outside the expertise of a farming organisation but definitely within the remit of Bord Bia

Mad4simmental

I said wrote: »

Great idea but how are you going to compete against veg for 6cent every now and then price dominates the choice

Don't underestimate your fresh nice product. Woolworth's and Coles over there are no angels and do the exact same as here. A customer may only pop in for a few bits they like getting fresh in the market but they return to get it. The last war raged over there was milk. Can you imagine Super Value or Tesco owning and running all the milk processors, that's what's happening for the most part there.
I'm not saying it will work everywhere but there are allot of big towns in Ireland that a good food market could do business in once a week, say a Saturday.

As the brilliant Albert put it, madness is defined by doing the same thing over and over agin and expecting a different result.

Lambofdave

The IFA have done absolutely nothing to improve the standing of farmers in this country with our non farming brethren, reading the comments on the main news paper websites on anything to do with agri shows what the general population think of farmers. SFP is said in the same breath of farmers dole and whinging farmers. Protests in dublin with up to date tractors that cost more then some people homes and even security guards being allegedly assaulted. We all know that farmers will agree something at a meeting and then go off and do something different when they get home. There is so much internal issues with agriculture itself that we have forgot others out side of the sector.

Foodharvest 2020 has done damage too

paddysdream

Ok ,waaaaaaay too much time on my hands today(burning bushes and back in for tae).

No real ideas yet it seems!

What I mean by this is what would (a)you push for (b)by what methods(c)whats wrong at present(both with farming and its representation)

As regards being realistic;well my personal ideas would be unfair, unrealistic and unlikely to happen but what I would like to see is either a complete dropping of all supports a la New Zealand in the 1980s and sink or swim(with of course a dropping of all the related rules and regulations) or put all the CAP money into pillar 1 and divide it on the basis of the quality of your land.Neither will or should happen so I can't see those being a realistic agenda.

Also would shoot those pushing the lean green grass fed agenda when 90% of what we produce is sold as a commodity and thats the market that returns the most for the vast vast majority of us, like it or lump it.
Actually come to think of it,there are lots of people in farming I would like to shoot in an Uncle Joe Stalin type purge but thats a rant for another day!!

Also can we ever get a collective mentality in Irish farmers ie everybody pushing for the same thing at the same time.Example; try to say,have a produce strike and see how long it lasts or how many would support it after a few days.

Have farmers any real power in their lobbying efforts or is it just lip service as at the end of the day government ,factories,processors etc know we will roll over,tail up while they put on the glove and insert the straw.Ok we in most cases have a must sell by date on what we produce and our actions and choices are limited by that fact but still if thats the reality then what can or should we do?

rancher

paddysdream wrote: »

Ok ,waaaaaaay too much time on my hands today(burning bushes and back in for tae).

No real ideas yet it seems!

What I mean by this is what would (a)you push for (b)by what methods(c)whats wrong at present(both with farming and its representation)

As regards being realistic;well my personal ideas would be unfair, unrealistic and unlikely to happen but what I would like to see is either a complete dropping of all supports a la New Zealand in the 1980s and sink or swim(with of course a dropping of all the related rules and regulations) or put all the CAP money into pillar 1 and divide it on the basis of the quality of your land.Neither will or should happen so I can't see those being a realistic agenda.

Also would shoot those pushing the lean green grass fed agenda when 90% of what we produce is sold as a commodity and thats the market that returns the most for the vast vast majority of us, like it or lump it.
Actually come to think of it,there are lots of people in farming I would like to shoot in an Uncle Joe Stalin type purge but thats a rant for another day!!

Also can we ever get a collective mentality in Irish farmers ie everybody pushing for the same thing at the same time.Example; try to say,have a produce strike and see how long it lasts or how many would support it after a few days.

Have farmers any real power in their lobbying efforts or is it just lip service as at the end of the day government ,factories,processors etc know we will roll over,tail up while they put on the glove and insert the straw.Ok we in most cases have a must sell by date on what we produce and our actions and choices are limited by that fact but still if thats the reality then what can or should we do?

As long as the government and dept are running the show, its worth our while trying to influence them, but if its an eu rule its tougher, but we're wasting our time going near private companies, they'll bow to us in a scarcity and we'll bow to them in a glut

paddysdream

Maybe its time to bring this thread back and those of us who know best(mise included!) can rant and rave here to our hearts content and leave other threads to actually contain the content they were intended for.

rangler1

paddysdream wrote: »

Maybe its time to bring this thread back and those of us who know best(mise included!) can rant and rave here to our hearts content and leave other threads to actually contain the content they were intended for.

I was involved in a national issue years ago that involved a lot of farmers and meant farm centre had to employ extra staff, so we looked for a contribution of €50, That's why I wouldn't agree with opt in

bogman_bass

Push hard to support young active farmers and new entrents.
Help improve land mobility
Training farmers for leadership roles.

Oh wait there is already an organisation doing that! Its called Macra!:D

rangler1

bogman_bass wrote: »

Push hard to support young active farmers and new entrents.
Help improve land mobility
Training farmers for leadership roles.

Oh wait there is already an organisation doing that! Its called Macra!:D

National reserve should bring entitlement to a lot of land that has none now.
Between that and the tax free land leases, there should be a good cull of ould farmers in the next few years