FARMING offers a varied and challenging work environment and is still a viable profession, says to outgoing Macra na Feirme president Colm Markey.

MACRA NA FEIRME president Colm Markey has called on Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan to backdate the new Installation Aid Scheme to cover new entrants who set up in farming in 2006.

THE Government has been urged to clarify how its Energy White Paper will contribute to regional and rural development.

THE first women president in the 63-year history of Macra na Feirme will be Catherine Buckley, a 29-year-old accountant from Knocknagown, Rylane, Co Cork.

THE three winners of the 2007 Bank of Ireland Business Banking-Macra na Feirme national leadership awards are from South Tipperary, Meath and Wicklow.

FARMERS have warned that rural development will suffer due to being combined with social inclusion programmes in new county structures which will implement LEADER and other local development initiatives.

MACRA na Feirme claimed yesterday the Department of Agriculture and Food’s interpretation of what constitutes soiled water under the nitrates directive has no scientific basis and is totally flawed.

THE Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) national council approved the new national agreement Towards 2016 at a special meeting in Limerick.

MORE people have been killed on the country’s roads in the past nine years than have lost their lives during the North’s Troubles.

MACRA na Feirme, which represents people between the ages of 17 and 35, has launched a membership recruitment drive.

MACRA na Feirme has welcomed the announcement by Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan that up to 30% of milk quota will be set aside for young farmers under the new regime.

FARMERS under 350,000 litres (76,990 gallons) will get less quota from the exchange than they did from the Restructuring Scheme, said Dominic Cronin, Chairperson of ICMSA’s Dairy Committee.

A NEW milk quota trading system was announced by Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan at the ploughing championships in Grangeford, Co Carlow yesterday.

MARKET power is the biggest issue facing farmers, it was claimed at an awards ceremony in Limerick.

THE vital statistics of Tullamore’s celebrated show and national livestock exhibition in Co Offaly, yesterday, told their own story of the sheer scale of the one-day event, which attracted an estimated record attendance of 55,000 people.

People are being encouraged to organise events today to get to know their neighbours better as part of a nationwide campaign.

Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan tonight defended her allocation of an EU sugar industry restructuring fund to processor Greencore amid accusations from farmers she was backing big business over farming families.

A one-off gesture of goodwill was urged today to allow the outsourcing of the State’s growing driving test backlog.

NINE out of 10 young people drink alcohol, with many boozing more than once a week, a survey revealed yesterday.

Nine out of 10 young people drink alcohol with many boozing more than once a week, a new survey revealed today.

UNIONS at the country’s only remaining sugar factory in Mallow last night accused the Government of pandering to the needs of farmers as the firm closes with the loss of 324 jobs.

The Government is failing young drivers with the lengthy wait for driving tests costing provisional motorists over €23m a year in higher insurance premiums, it was warned today.

THE row over the Nitrates Directive took a heavy political toll yesterday as farming organisations walked out of social partnership negotiations in anger.

A CALL to have Ireland and Britain treated as one region for milk quota trading was made by Macra na Feirme president Colm Markey in Sligo last night.

PROVISION has been made for the gross expenditure of over €3 billion by the Department of Agriculture and Food in the coming year.

THOUSANDS of farmers yesterday focused their fury on the European Union Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.