Farm industry must reform or face extinction

SOME time back, a farmer shareholder in Dairygold remarked that his young son working a farm seven days a week near Mitchelstown was making significantly less money than his counterpart working a 40-hour week in one of the factories owned by the co-op.

It was a statement of fact, made as the North Cork co-op was going though massive restructuring.

It made the point quite simply that in modern Ireland, farming is a life sentence rather than an opportunity for those eager to exploit the land.