Undervalued

I believe that the work of agricultural contractors is not valued or appreciated and, as a sector, it is not treated with the respect it deserves, certainly by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and policymakers.
I hope that farmers appreciate the services provided by agricultural contractors – I think they do – as there is no doubt that it is not economically viable for them to purchase the types of machinery and kit needed for food production on the farm today.
Agricultural exports and food production for the Irish market could not be achieved without agricultural contractors. Indeed, the service they provide to farmers is a vital block on which the food chain is built. Yet, how often is this acknowledged? The DAFM does not even recognise their existence and has no specific data on this sector. Does the DAFM know how many professional agricultural contractors there are, what the state of their businesses are, and what succession plans do they have in place? All this is crucial information for short- and long-term planning in the faming sector, but the agricultural contracting sector is not being taken into account at all.
Are agricultural contractors just expected to magically be there in the long-term to provide the most high-tech, high-investment machinery needed to achieve the required output? All without any acknowledgement or recognition?
Unlike the UK and other European countries, most Irish agricultural contractors do not have a contract with their farmer clients. Therefore, there is no goodwill in their business to sell on when they want to retire after a lifetime of service to agriculture.
While I am happy to hear the Minster for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, announce more financial help for farmers, he needs to look at the long-term viability of the agricultural contracting sector and bring them under the umbrella of his department because, as it stands at the moment, no one in Government has a clue about them.

Food prices gone mad

It is a mystery to me why we are seeing such savage price increases in basic everyday food. Recently published figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that, in the past year, food prices have risen at more than double the general rate of inflation. These figures also show that food inflation rose to 5.1 per cent in August – its highest level since December 2023 when it stood at 5.6 per cent. In addition, according to the CSO, the price of several foods rose last month, including butter (up 18.3 per cent), milk (12.4 per cent), bread (3.3 per cent), and beef and veal (22.7 per cent). Farmers are certainly not benefiting from the massive increases shoppers face, and despite some help from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), farmers still do not get a fair farmgate price. Unlike most other industries, who take their total input costs plus a profit margin, farmers must take what they can get from the multinationals, who dictate the price.
To me, there is something seriously wrong with a system where we, taxpayers,
subsidise the production of food though the CAP, then those in the supply chain set the price, then sting the taxpayer to pay extortionate prices to buy the food we have already subsidised. You wouldn’t believe it if you saw it in a movie.
We did have a European commissioner who put together a working group to investigate how to get a fairer farmgate price but he was removed by the unacceptable face of politics. Come back, Phil Hogan, we need you now!