Conference’s off-farm employment theme illustrates drystock problems
Ann Phelan, minister of state for rural affairs, will address the September 17 conference at Teagasc Research Centre, Ashtown, Dublin. But the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association maintains the conference’s focus on finding off-farm employment shows how bad things have become in drystock farming.
ICSA rural development chairman Billy Gray said the Government must stand up to multinational retailers who are hell-bent on driving down farm viability. “Forcing farmers into looking for off- farm employment at a time when economic recovery is still in its infancy... makes no absolutely no sense and cannot be justified,” he said.
