Now may be time to act cautiously

Future of farming

Farming remains the economic and emotional heartbeat of most of rural Ireland. The economy’s wellbeing is inextricably linked to the sector’s fortunes so its performance is more a national interest than a sectoral one.

Tens of thousands of families cling to holdings, not all of them marginal, that would be unsustainable without Government support or an off-farm income. This doggedness reminds us that the deep, sometimes unfathomable emotions that drove John B Keane’s Bull McCabe to behave so obsessively, are still very real players even in the Google and Facebook Ireland of 2014. This cultural creedo is reflected in the fact that so very little farmland changes ownership, maybe something less than 2% each year. Irish land prices, often touching €12,000 an acre, are among the very highest in Europe and suggest something more than commercial pragmatism. Protests over beef prices and warnings about an expected bonanza in the milk market not materialising may indicate that those prices levels are a result of something more than business ambition.