The challenges facing dairy farmers today have never been greater, from milk price volatility, input cost increases and volatility, ever changing nitrate and other environmental regulations, climate change and weather, to name a number of key issues. The European model of agriculture based on the family farm is a model worth protecting. Unfortunately, our political masters appear intent on dismantling the foundations on which this model is built, and developments in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) only highlight the complete lack of understanding that policy-makers have for the challenges facing farmers. Here in Ireland, the milk price has gone from 56 cents per litre in January to as low as 37 cents today. At the same time, farmers are expected to meet umpteen standards and regulations that seem to change on a yearly basis and become more complex each time... Read more
