The Agricultural Affairs Committee 2022 - 2023

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The Agricultural Affairs Committee 2022 - 2023

The Agricultural Affairs committee is a sub-committee of Macra's National Council, made up of National Council Representatives and co-options from the counties and regions across the country and across farming sectors.

The Agricultural Affairs committee (2022 - 2023) is led by Liam Hanrahan (chair), Patrick Collins (vice-chair) and Stephanie Blewitt (PRO), who work alongside John Keane, his presidential team and all other committee members to represent Macra members across the country.

The Agricultural Affairs committee raise member's concerns to Council, lobby public representatives and form policy documents, with the overarching goal of increasing the number of young people farming and involved in our industry, while having young farmer's voices heard.

The committee also has a number of working groups which work on specific topics of particular interest at the time and vary each year. At regional level young farmers within Macra are represented by YFDG's (Young Farmer Development Groups) who continuously liaise with the national committee with this line of communication essential to the success of the organisation.

The Agricultural Affairs committee encourage all members to get active and involved to continuously strengthen the voice of the organisation. 

Recent Ag Affairs events and meetings include:

  • YFDG farm walks 
  • Member consultations
  • Pre-budget meetings 
  • DAFM
    • Food Vision Groups (Dairy and Beef)
    • Nitrates Directive
    • Forestry
    • TB forum
  • Teagasc
  • Skillnet
  • CEJA