Conference on farm businesses

Dublin: Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will formally open a national farm business conference called "Coping with Change" in Leopardstown Pavilion, Co Dublin, on May 10.

Organised by the Agricultural Consultants Association, it will plot out realistic farm incomes up to 2010 and look at the Irish family farm in the global context. ACA president Eddie McQuinn said the conference will provide a wake-up call to the decision-makers in Irish agriculture.

Radical policy changes are urgently required if the industry is to survive and compete, he said.