Farmers ‘must maximise profits’

Irish farmers will have to farm profitably in the absence of farming subsidies, John Grogan, the outgoing president, told the Agricultural Science Association conference in Waterford.

“The implications are actually huge, with the annual decline in the number of Irish farmers supporting the probability that Ireland will have fewer but larger farmers in the future“, he said.

Mr Grogan said the issues affect everybody, “as we are all consumers with a vested interest in maintaining food quality, food safety and food costs“.

The incoming ASA president is David Rath, AIB Bank, who took up the post at the end of the conference last night.