BALLOTING to elect the next president of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) began last night. The first votes were cast in more than 70 of the IFA’s 947 branches countrywide.

SLIGO farmer Gabriel Gilmartin has been elected president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA).

THE European Commission is totally out of touch with agricultural realities, according to the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association.

A 20% cut in the Fás budget could be used to help fund the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) and other productive programmes, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association says.

THE campaign is well under way for the election of the next president of the Irish Farmers Association.

FARMERS have welcomed the relaxation of brucellosis testing controls announced by Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister Brendan Smith.

IT appears there is a lack of joined-up thinking between two Government departments regarding on-farm inspections.

THE slurry spreading deadline for farmers in the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) has been extended from August 31 to October 15 because of the wet weather.

A GREAT reluctance to apply for Farm Assist has been detected among farm families, even though they may be entitled to the social welfare payment, a farm leader has said.

RETAILERS are getting three times the price that farmers get for their beef and six times what producers get for their milk, a farm leader has claimed.

THE Government was warned yesterday that the number of farmers applying for Farm Assist will rocket due to funding cuts in various programmes including the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS).

Famers' representatives were protesting outside the Department of Agriculture in Dublin this morning over the recent decision to close entry to the REPS 4 scheme, and potential cuts to the Disadvantaged Area Scheme.

FARMERS are furious at the Government’s decision to close the Rural Environment Protection Scheme to new applicants and are demanding an immediate meeting with Taoiseach Brian Cowen.

THE €9 million saved in animal disease control costs “should be invested in young farmers’ installation aid”.

BANKS were urged yesterday to assist the difficult cash-flow situation on farms by providing bridging loans at competitive interest rates.

FARMING organisations have objected to the decision by the Department of Agriculture to publish the name and home town of farmers who received payments under the Common Agricultural Policy.

THERE has been a mixed reaction to the move by Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith to proceed with the allocation of extra quota.

A SPECIAL ex-gratia payment will be made to farmers whose farm waste management grants have been partially deferred to 2010 and 2011, Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith has announced.

THERE was a furious farm lobby reaction last night to a Government decision to phase the payment of an estimated €550 million due to 17,000 farmers in waste management grants.

THE immediate payment of the farm waste management grants would effectively represent a significant recapitalisation of the main banks, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association claimed yesterday.

THE Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) has called for a beef payment system that gives a substantial reward to quality cattle.

Members of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA) are protesting against supermarket chain Tesco today.

A World Trade Organisation draft deal to open up farm and manufacturing commerce has provided a “path forward” to ending seven years of frustrating talks on a new global trade pact, the top US negotiator says.

The Irish Cattle and Sheepfarmers' Association (ICSA) said today that it is time to call a halt to World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations.

The Irish Farmer's Association is to hold a demonstration outside Government Buildings today in protest at Peter Mandelson's handling of the world trade talks.

Irish Cattle and Sheepfarmers’ Association (ICSA) president Malcolm Thompson has today called for the Doha round of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks to be scrapped completely, calling it "obsolete and no longer relevant to the current global situation".

VITAL Irish economic interests are in imminent danger at the world trade talks, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association warned yesterday.

BRAZILIAN beef will be banned from being sold in the EU from today because of concerns about its safety.

The EU has today agreed to temporarily ban imports of Brazilian beef, pending the compilation of a list of farms in the country that comply with EU regulations and standards.

AS LIVESTOCK marts reopened yesterday after the Christmas break, farmers began to play hardball with the processing factories by warning they are not prepared to sell cattle without a substantial price increase.

AGRICULTURAL history tells us that in the dim days for farming when Jim Dillon reigned as Minister for Agriculture, farmers flocked to poultry keeping, lured by the prospect of an improved market for eggs.

Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) president Malcolm Thompson has said that today’s EU Commission decision to impose limited restrictions on Brazilian beef has undermined both farmers and consumers across Europe.

WE now live in a society where sirloin steak is €10.68 per kilogram and cocaine is €70 a gram (or €70,000 a kilogram), a farm leader pointed out last night.

ICSA president Malcolm Thompson and several current position holders were re-elected unopposed at the recent ICSA national executive meeting.

FARM leaders in Ireland yesterday warned that a possible new leak of foot and mouth disease in Britain was a matter of great concern.

FUNDING must continue to be made available to allow the farm improvement scheme to operate up to 2013, according to Macra na Feirme president Catherine Buckley.

A surveillance zone has been put in place to monitor bluetongue after a second animal was found to have contracted the disease at the British farm where the UK's first case of the disease was discovered.

A SPELL of sharp cold weather could help prevent the spread of deadly bluetongue virus from Britain to Ireland, experts suggested yesterday.

Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan has today described the detection of the Bluetongue infection in Britain as a "worrying development".

THE likelihood that a second foot and mouth outbreak in Britain originated from the same source as last month’s cases must lead to a full risk re-assessment, Fine Gael said yesterday.

AN emergency meeting of the ICSA national executive in Portlaoise has called for tougher measures regarding British exports and has placed a question mark on whether livestock movements should be permitted across the North-South border until there is full understanding of what is going on.

The Government tonight imposed a fresh wave of bio-security measures against the spread into the country of Foot-and-Mouth disease.

Farmers called on the Government today to re-impose strict bio-security measures after confirmation of another suspected foot-and-mouth outbreak in Britain.

THE Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA) yesterday called for the relocation of the Pirbright laboratory at the centre of last month’s foot and mouth outbreak in England to a safer location.