There was a time when Irish farmer tractorcades were confined to the roads and streets of Ireland. In the week before Christmas, however, the Irish Farmers’ Association’s (IFA’s) president, Francie Gorman, drove a John Deere tractor, courtesy of Templetuohy Farm Machinery, from IFA HQ in Dublin to the port of Rosslare, taking the ferry to France and then onwards to Brussels. And, no, this wasn’t a kind of modern-day promotion for Kerrygold butter. There may be faster ways to reach the Belgian capital, but there are no better means of capturing headlines and promoting the cause of farming. In fact, Francie, accompanied by his young son, Tom, were joining French farmers at Dunkirk as part of a Europe-wide COPA/COGECA convoy of tractors converging on Brussels to coincide with a major EU Council meeting. The aim was to highlight a range of critical challenges facing the sector, including Mercosur, financial shortfalls in the next Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) budget and over-regulation in the sector. The protest also focussed on the lower beef production standards for Brazilian beef entering the EU, as evidenced by the recent recall of meat with hormones and the investigation by the IFA and the Irish Farmers Journal last November. As well as showing solidarity with fellow European farmers, Francie Gorman and his organisation were surely conscious that the publicity would pile further pressure on taoiseach Micheál Martin in the run-up to major decisions being made by EU leaders at the European Council. Later this year, Ireland holds the presidency of the EU at a time when several policy discussions will be concluded, most especially around the future of the CAP and the level of funding that will be reserved for it over the next five years.
