Head-to-head: IFA presidential Candidates

The ballot to elect the next president of the IFA opened earlier this month, and Francie and Martin have been engaged in a gruelling series of hustings around the country to impress on IFA members the merits of their candidacies. They sat down with Irish Farmers Monthly to debate the major issues of concern to farmers.

What can you offer?

When asked what they would bring to the role of president, Francie responded: “I have a great belief in the IFA. I believe I can bring a pro-activeness that we have lost in recent years. I’m not being critical of my predecessors. It is something we have slipped into over time. I want to restore the credibility of the IFA as a strong, political force representing farmers. In addition, I want people who are disillusioned with the IFA to regain confidence in it. Many farmers are disillusioned with the IFA, primarily because we haven’t taken a pro-active approach on so many issues. We seem to be on the sidelines, waiting to see what happens and when there’s an issue – particularly the likes of the Nitrates Derogation that’s hugely important to many farmers’ incomes –  we aren’t pro-active enough. In 2022, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) decided there would be a reduction in stocking rates depending on water quality and the first we knew about it was a month later.”
In response to the same question, Martin outlined his experience over the past eight years' working at the forefront of the IFA: “I will focus on delivering for Irish farmers. I will focus on what’s possible to achieve, on building better relations with everybody we deal with, our food purchasers, our Government, the EU, and I will bring back a sense of respect for the IFA by the public and a better sense of respect among farmers for the IFA itself.”

Presidential priorities

When asked what his priorities would be if elected, Martin responded: “I mentioned a sense of respect for the organisation and for farming. That has become the top issue for farmers. The next priority is unity. We must focus, as farmers, on what we have in common, rather than discussing which sector or region is doing best, or which farm organisation is doing best. Unity is important because without it we won’t be strong as an organisation and without strength we cannot deliver for our members.
“I also want to bring a real priority around our freedom to farm. Inside each farm gate, there is a real need for farmers to have the freedom to choose what they want to do. If Government wants to change what farmers are doing, they must be incentivised and supported, not forced. There must be a focus on getting returns from the marketplace and proper assignment of the supports for farmers because I don’t think we do that well now.”

Achievement list

What would Francie like to have achieved if he were the outgoing president in four years’ time: “My 100 per cent priority is income. It all comes down to income across every policy we engage with, whether that’s with the department, Government or EU. How it affects farm income is the central question. There’s not enough emphasis placed on how policy implementation affects the costs of production on farms and at processing level. It comes back to being pro-active in whatever policy is being negotiated at the time. We must be prepared to put our ideas forward, make sure they are taken on board in forming the final policy or regulation and not be waiting for the final policy and then reacting to it when it’s too late.
“We need to be actively involved in the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) over the next two years. If we miss the opportunity, we won’t have any real influence. I reference a proper environment scheme. We haven’t had one since REPS 3. Farmers need to be paid properly for environmental achievements. That’s not happening now with the CAP funding being raided to pay for environmental ambition. Adequate CAP funds must be available to support farmers in producing food sustainably and to meet environmental ambition on our farms.”

Protest versus negotiation

Both candidates asserted the primary role of negotiation while holding onto the strategy of protest if or when negotiation fails. When asked about how the IFA can represent all farm sectors, Martin responded: “It’s absolutely necessary. Otherwise, we end up competing with each other. We must be able to make hard decisions within our own farming community as to what is important. The challenge for us is to decide what we want to achieve, where we want our focus to be. Vulnerable sectors and areas, quality food production and environmental ambition are my choices. If farmers decide something else that’s fine.”

Unity of purpose

It was proposed that the many representative organisations for different sectors make unity of purpose impossible. Martin asserted that: “The reason we have so many farm organisations is because we left a gap there. We weren’t listening to farmers. We weren’t representing them. That’s a key challenge I will face if elected as IFA president. My aim would be to bring a unity of purpose to the issues of the day, including CAP negotiation and environmental issues.

These are the big challenges we face, and farmers have a lot more in common than what divides us.”

Both Francie and Martin were asked about the unseemly spectacle outside the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine when the ICMSA passed an IFA protest. Martin’s response: “What happened was regrettable and we would be better off if we didn’t find ourselves in a situation where one organisation is walking past another’s protest. But, the reality is that things were said to fellow farmers that should not have been said.” Francie’s comment: “I neither justify nor condemn what happened. It’s a reality and is what happens when there is no prior consultation, and everyone gets backed into a corner.”

Economic sustainability

Is Irish farming becoming increasingly economically unsustainable and more and more dependent on subvention from Government and EU? Martin insists that there are many definitions of sustainability: “Must a farm be able to generate an income for one person or an entire family, or does a farm income have to be supplemented with off-farm income? All options are working well and providing decent living standards for over 100,000 Irish farmers. I don’t go along with the notion that a small-scale farm or one that is operating in a low-margin sector, is unviable. The biggest threat to viability is succession and the lack of young people willing to commit to a life in agriculture. When you talk to young people, a lot of the problem is the perceived lack of respect for farmers.”
Francie reflected on the same sustainability question: “Take the beef sector as an example. We can’t compete with South American beef, with limitless land resources, differing environmental standards to our own, access to cheap labour, and use of hormones. Our regulatory standards do not allow fair competition. A viable beef industry has to be supported against unfair competitive forces and those supports have halved in the last decade.”