Midland Farmer - September 2023

More documents

Recommendations

Info

18 MIDLAND FARMER September 2023 SOMETHING OLD Falling beef prices costing farmers €2m per week – Cullinan The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) is estimating that falling beef prices are currently costing Irish farmers around €2 million per week. The association said that the gap between Irish beef price and the Bord Bia export benchmark price currently stands at 19c/kg, and is continuing to widen. IFA president Tim Cullinan is calling on meat factories to immediately address this gap which he said is costing the Irish livestock sector millions. “We estimate that the gap between the export benchmark price and the Irish beef price is costing the Irish beef farmers about €2 million per week at the moment. “This is at a time where farmers are really struggling due to bad weather and escalating costs,” he said. BEEF PRICES The IFA president said that “farmers need every cent that is in the market to be returned to them”. “Instead of closing the gap with the benchmark price, factories are going in the other direction with beef price,” he said. Cullinan said that while beef prices internationally are on a downward trend, the recent declines in Irish prices have been much steeper than what has occurred in other markets. IFA National Livestock Committee chair, Brendan Golden added: “It’s about time factories started supporting farmers instead of shortchanging them which is clearly the case at the moment.” As reported recently, factory quotes for finished cattle this week have continued to fall with most outlets reducing quotes by an further 5c/kg across the board. Price quotes for heifers and bullocks (steers) have now fallen by approximately 60c/kg since quotes peaked in April of this year. SOMETHING NEW Revitalising rural Ireland’s old houses “I love seeing older houses on farms brought back to life but farmers have a set of obstacles like no-one else when it comes to bringing these buildings back into use,” Maggie Molloy, the presenter of the RTÉ programme ‘Cheap Irish Homes’ said. “Some are lived in by the older generation until all the sons and daughters are sorted and living in their own houses and then when the main house becomes empty, it’s almost surplus to everyone’s needs,” she said. “You can’t easily sell it because it’s normally down in the middle of the farm and even renting it isn’t straightforward, with a working farmyard more than likely based outside the back door. “But these older buildings within a farm contain so much history when it comes to the families that were reared in them. “Even the traditions practiced inside their walls and the memories associated with ancestors now gone are so important,” she added. “The solution may not be as straightforward as a simple switch over once the house is vacated, but even maintaining and valuing the building until the next generation is grown could see some willing grandchild raise their hand, ready to take on granny’s old place,” Maggie said. This is the 4th season of ‘Cheap Irish Homes’ in which Maggie presents people interested in older properties around the country with options to meet their requirements and budget. “Never in my wildest dreams did I expect the series to be so popular,” she said. “I always thought I was in the minority when it came to old houses. But it turns out a lot of people around the country are willing to roll up their sleeves and take on a renovation project,” she said. “I think in a small way we have managed to change thinking about how derelict or dilapidated houses in rural areas can be revamped to provide housing for people. “I see so many empty cottages and farmhouses now being rented, sold, renovated or just passed on to family members and I think before the show and before my Instagram feed, the conversation around these older houses just wasn’t happening on such a national scale. “I even hope we played some part in opening the government’s eyes to the potential in old vacant houses. The new grant we have for these houses offers home buyers some much needed money to invest in essential upgrades,” she said. TOO QUICK TO DEMOLISH OLD HOUSES? We have absolutely been too quick to demolish in the past, Maggie contended. “There’s a phrase I hear constantly and every time it comes up it just makes me worried for the state of the houses we have left. It’s; ‘Sure it’d be cheaper to knock that and rebuild’,” she said. “Firstly, in a lot of cases, this simply isn’t true. “If you want to turn your three-roomed cottage into a five-bedroom bungalow complete with glass box extension, then maybe, but if all you plan to do is insulate it, upgrade your windows and fit a new kitchen then it’s a fantastic home for you,” Maggie said. “A lot of vacant houses around rural Ireland already have all their services, internal bathrooms, sitting rooms, bedrooms, kitchens and roofs. And these kinds of houses don’t need as much done to them as people think.” Maggie is delighted that there are new grants now that will incentivise the owners of derelict houses to do them up. “The vacant property refurbishment grant makes €50,000 available to people willing to renovate a house Maggie Molloy that has been empty for at least two years,” she said. “If the house is classed as derelict you can apply for a further top up of €20,000 and if you have a traditional farmhouse and are considering applying for the grant, you can get an additional allowance of up to €7,500 for expert conservation advice on how to refurbish your property.” A ‘BUZZ’ IN RURAL IRELAND “Covid-19 changed a lot of things for a lot of people and definitely there’s a buzz about living in rural Ireland like I’ve never seen before. “Sure it’s expensive to run a car and you can’t get the bus everywhere, but rents and mortgages are more affordable and remote working is making the move a realistic option for a lot of people who never dreamed they’d have the chance at a better way of life,” contended Maggie. “If we embrace this new found bubble of enthusiasm for rural Ireland by encouraging young people to live here, incentivising them to set up new businesses here, to work from home if their broadband is good enough, to set up co-working spaces in our towns and villages if the broadband is better in there, then everything will snowball. “Other supporting businesses will come, the local mechanics will be back, the corner shop will re-open, the pubs will be alive again, our schools will fill again, and it could very easily in our lifetime all come back to how it was, only better than before. “It’s been a long time since people have so openly on a national scale talked about moving out of our cities and into the countryside, but it’s ours to lose if we don’t fight for it.” Maggie has been inundated with requests to do follow-ups to give an insight into whether people featured on the programmes bought the properties showcased on the series. “I’d love to do a follow up show and we’re currently exploring the possibility of doing one,” she said.
September 2023 Over 90% of Irish households throw out food – research A total of 82% of people in Ireland are concerned about food waste in their household yet 94% are still throwing out food, according to new research from SuperValu. Of those people concerned about food waste in their household, 80% would like to reduce their food waste. Fruit is the most common food item thrown out by Irish households. Bananas, apples and strawberries are the fruit thrown out the most. Lettuce, carrots and potatoes are the top three vegetables most likely to be binned, SuperValu said. Spoilage, expiration and overbuying are the three most common reasons for food waste in Irish households, the research, commissioned as part of SuperValu’s ‘Take Local Action, Make Global Impact’ campaign, found. FOOD WASTE Ireland generated a total of 753,000t of food waste in 2021, of which households accounted for 29%, according to latest figures by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). On an annual basis, each person throws out 44kg of food which costs the average Irish household about €700 every year. Nationally, that’s a cost of €1.29 billion, the EPA said. While 89% of people are making a conscious effort to reduce their food waste, only 32% of the 1,200 surveyed adults regularly use leftovers, the research found. A weekly meal plan is prepared by 44% of people and 36% said they portion correctly. Survey results also show that 10% of people never use leftovers when cooking. Shopping better, freezing food and using leftovers are the most popular ways by which people are reducing food waste. CAMPAIGN The ‘Take Local Action, Make Global Impact’ campaign aims to showcase how collectively, small lifestyle changes can lead to bigger global impacts. Speaking about the initiative, head of sustainability at SuperValu, Owen Keogh, said that research shows that people want to make changes but sometimes don’t know where to start. “Across all our digital channels and in-store, we will be encouraging and highlighting ways people can take small local actions that can contribute to a global impact,” he said. “From recipes to help reduce food waste with recycling tips and highlighting in-store the extensive plant-based options and range of locally sourced Irish products,” he said. SuperValu estimates that if the average household reduces its food waste by 50%, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission per person could be reduced by 37.4kg. Improving Ireland’s recycling rate by 10% could yield a 13kg GHG emissions reduction per household, according to SuperValu which aims to cut food waste in their operations by 50% by 2030. Recommended dairy servings for children cost 65c/day The recommended three servings a day of dairy for children costs an average of 65c, according to a new back-to-school survey. The survey, carried out by the National Dairy Council (NDC), examined the cost of including a portion of milk, yogurt or cheese in children’s lunch boxes. This included comparing the prices of dairy products in four Irish supermarkets: Dunnes Stores; Tesco; SuperValu and Aldi. The survey found that it costs an average of 21c for a 200ml serving of milk, 14c for a 25g serving of hard cheese, and 30c for a 125g pot of yogurt. This comes at a time when food price inflation in Ireland is running at more than 10%. MIDLAND FARMER 19 Planning for 2024 on tillage farms Planning for 2024 will start to rise up the pecking order of importance for tillage farmers over the coming weeks. Growers of oilseed rape have already started this planting process with crop plantings now underway. They will be quickly followed by farmers drilling winter cereals, weather permitting, over the coming weeks. Getting the correct crop mix on a farm correct is important, in order to spread risk. But rotation also plays a key part in adhering to Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) regulations. On the latest Tillage Edge podcast, Teagasc tillage specialist Shay Phelan confirmed the breadth and scope of the new Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) regulations. He explained that tillage farmers, when signing-up for the new Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) payments, also committed to maintaining a number of farm management standards. Phelan said: “Many of these would have been covered by the previous greening regulations. These would have included the likes of buffer strips along water courses. “Also included would have been the two and three-crop rule.” According to Phelan, there are now a total of 9 GAEC regulations in place. And tillage farmers will be familiar with the subject areas covered by these measures. These include the likes of specifying the criteria that must be followed when ploughingup grassland. Another relates to the restrictions placed on burning arable stubbles. However, there are a number of new regulations covered by the GAEC measures, which specifically relate to tillage farmers. “The crop rotation measures that are covered in GAEC 7 will be new to tillage farmers as are the new catch crop regulations that are linked back to the new nitrates measures,” Phelan added. “The main GAEC measures that will be of direct interest to tillage farmers are the following. “GAEC 1 relates to the ploughing up of grassland; GAEC 3 relates to the prohibition of burning arable stubbles. GAEC 4 covers the need to place buffer strips adjacent to waterways. These have been increased from 2m to 3m. The width increases further to 6m for late harvested crops. “GAEC 5 deals with measures that reduce the risk of soil degradation and erosion. GAEC 6 deals with the issues of maintaining soil cover and reducing poaching. This is the condition that is causing a lot of commentary at the moment,” he said. DAIRY The Department of Health’s recommendations for healthy eating includes three servings from the ‘milk, yogurt and cheese’ food group for those aged 5-8 years; with five servings recommended for 9-18 year olds, due to the importance of calcium during this life stage. “Back to school is one of the most expensive times of the year for parents and, with food prices rising across the board, it has never been more challenging to feed a family affordably whilst also guaranteeing that kids get a healthy balanced diet,” Dr. Mary Harrington, senior nutritionist with NDC, said. “Our survey of supermarket prices found that the recommended three servings of dairy per day for 5-8 year olds, costs on average €0.65, so putting a dairy product in your child’s lunchbox provides excellent value for money while also packing a real nutritional punch. “One serving each of milk, yogurt and cheese, provides a wide range of nutrients, including calcium, protein, iodine, phosphorus and B vitamins – all of which play an important role in your kid’s health,” she added.
Page 1 and 2: MIDLAND FREE FARMER SEPTEMBER 2023
Page 3 and 4: September 2023 MIDLAND FARMER 3 Fin
Page 5 and 6: September 2023 Production of milk i
Page 7 and 8: September 2023 MIDLAND FARMER 7 CSO
Page 9 and 10: September 2023 Rugby star Ringrose
Page 11 and 12: September 2023 MIDLAND FARMER 11 SK
Page 13 and 14: September 2023 MIDLAND FARMER 13 Ag
Page 15 and 16: September 2023 Farming ‘bureaucra
Page 17: September 2023 43% of pig producers
Page 21 and 22: September 2023 Number of students i
Page 23 and 24: September 2023 Children in rural ar

Midland Farmer - September 2023

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?