Farm sector can survive, says IFA

Dublin: Farming can continue as a commercial activity, the general secretary of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA), Michael Berkery, told the Association of European Journalists (Irish section) in Dublin yesterday.

However, he said it is likely to divide into two streams - commercial full-time farmers and part-time hobby lifestyle farmers.

Mr Berkery said capacity building, achieving scale and efficiency is as important in farming as it is for other sectors. The key to increasing scale at an affordable cost is through an increased role for landleasing for terms of five years or longer.