Young farmers must adapt or perish, warns Macra leader

MACRA na Feirme president Colm Markey reflected on the future of Irish agriculture as he walked his farmyard at Dudderstown in County Louth on a Saturday evening last September, having closed in the cows after milking.

The young farmers’ leader had reason to think about the future. He was to deliver a speech on the subject in Mullingar in Co Westmeath a few nights later.

The dairy, beef and tillage farmer, elected president of Macra na Feirme a few months earlier, impressed farming and agri-business leaders at the Young Farmer of the Future award presentations with his speech.