No ‘free licence’ to switch from cattle to dairy and tillage
Some things never change. Dangle the prospect of earning a few bucks more in front of farmers and wait for the immediate reaction, at a pace equalled by few other sectors.
Dairy and tillage are the new promised lands, and even Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association President Malcolm Thompson suggested to his members last week that they should consider switching to dairy and tillage
It may have been intended primarily for the ears of beef and sheepmeat processors, as a warning that the future of their supply of raw material is not guaranteed unless they pay better prices. However, he asserted that the EU’s “freedom to farm” regime should give drystock farmers the right to switch to milk production.
Many ICSA members may have left dairy and tillage farming to concentrate on beef and sheep. Now, there is nothing to stop them returning to tillage. Neither are they barred from dairying, provided they purchase quota and provide the necessary infrastructure and stock. But if Mr Thompson thinks they should have some free licence” to produce milk the farmers who stayed in the dairy industry have ample grounds to raise objections.
Dairy farming is more labour demanding and capital intensive than beef or sheep, and better prices for milk in 2007 were long overdue. But one swallow does not make a summer, nor does one good season in farming cure all ills.
