There was no doubt about it – the positivity from politicians towards everything to do with food and farming was aired at every opportunity this week around the site of the National Ploughing Championships at Ratheniska, Co Laois.

Farmers were expecting an onslaught of political goodwill, and definitely got it in spades. The sunshine helped farmers’ moods and the cocktail of farmer positivity and political grandstanding generated some of the most positive Ploughing conversations in a number of years.

If nothing else, the upbeat attitude made for a welcome change from the constant torment that has been thrown at farmers and rural dwellers in terms of policy and weather over the last 18 months.

Farmers don’t need reminding that margins in all sectors will be minimal in 2024 – a mix of poor weather and inflated input costs.

The social occasion, negligible traffic problems, and a compact, well laid out site with well-managed access led to a very pleasant visit for all.

The simple things in life, such as chatting and sharing problems seemed to strike a chord with farmers as they crossed the tracks.

Scarcity

One farmer who called into the Irish Farmers Journal stand talked about the fact that forward store cattle are so scarce in marts that intensive meal feeding at grass to finish cattle is up and going earlier in order to meet anticipated Christmas demand. The mood music on beef price is good.

When asked on the stand by many farmers what he would do if fodder were scarce, our suckler editor Adam Woods was clear – reduce on-farm stock numbers.

His point was that if winter feed is scarce, the financial risk for small finishers by buying feed and holding stock numbers was too big a risk to take.

In marts all over the country, hammer prices for quality suckler stock are in excess of €3/kg, and so Adam feels that the best decision financially for those who haven’t got the winter feed is to offload stock.

These comments are underpinned by the Teagasc analysis of winter finishing budgets, published this week, which shows that a beef price of €6/kg is necessary next February and March to break even. Breaking even isn’t much good when farm inflation continues to push farmer margins into single figures.

Let’s take the positivity and bank it. We need a break. Let’s dream that the nitrates derogation uncertainty is solved, and the European officials on Irish farms this week better understand what we do here in Ireland.

Are European comparators, timelines and thresholds suitable for a production system that is unique, while farmers adopt new environmental policy measures?

Belief

Let’s believe that the upcoming budget can deliver more than we expect for our sector. Let’s believe that payments, including ANC payments that started to flow this week, will be made on time. Let’s believe that red tape can be reduced.

We saw scores of young people at the Ploughing. Can we harness their talent in the agri and food sector? Any thriving sector needs good young people to drive change.

Nevertheless, let’s keep our feet firmly on the ground. We all know the challenges. Farming will always have challenges and will always change. Ireland produces high quality, low carbon food.

There will be a billion extra people in the world over the next 10 years. Irish farmers are going the distance on producing this high class product. The industry is on a journey to realising the premium that is needed for long-term farmer viability.