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The time is fast approaching when Macra members will be invited to elect a new National President for the 2021-2023 term.  Simultaneously, elections in Munster, the North West and Leinster regions of Macra will elect Vice-Presidents for the 2021-2023 term. The young farmers and rural youth body’s biannual national elections take place in April this year. Macra na Feirme has announced its key dates for this year’s elections: Wednesday 10th February - Issue of Nomination Papers to clubs Wednesday 3rd March - Nominations close Wednesday 17th March - Issue of ballot papers Wednesday 7th April – Election Count of ballot...

  Macra na Feirme were delighted to launch a new club last month, a great start to the 2021 year. This new club is located in Ennistymon, Co. Clare. This brings the total number of Macra Clubs spread across Ireland to over 160. The launch of a new club Ennistymon Macra took place last Wednesday evening (27th January) online via Zoom, attracting a sizeable attendance. The launch of the Ennistymon club was led by Clare Macra chairman Cillian Griffey. “Macra is a national social organisation catering for 17-35 year olds with a wide range of interests including agriculture, sports, public...

Macra na Feirme has welcomed the support for Agricultural Students, following the announcement by Teagasc and the Department of Agriculture of a fund for hardship payments along with a version of the laptop loan scheme operated by other Higher Education Institutes. The announcement comes after 4 months of sustained lobbying by Macra na Feirme on behalf of Agricultural students. “This is a welcome move as Macra na Feirme had repeatedly highlighted the disparity between agricultural students and students in other third level institutes with supports” said National President Thomas Duffy. The fund in the region of €.2million is to be...

In figures provided to Macra na Feirme by the Department of Agriculture, more than €112 million in grand aid was provided under TAMS II Young Farmer Capital Investment Scheme, the majority of these provided at 60% grant aid. This demonstrates the level of investment by young farmers on their farms since 2015.  “In real terms this means young farmers have spent more than €186 million in their local economies, that shows the level of benefit from supporting young farmers to Ireland as a whole”, Macra na Feirme President Thomas Duffy said today. Department figures show 1,333 partnerships containing at least...

Macra Agricultural Skillnet recognised its outstanding young leaders at the 2020 ABP National Leadership Awards tonight, Wednesday 2nd on Zoom. The winners were: John Keane, Devils Bit Macra, North Tipperary Helen Dempsey, Mountmellick Macra, Laois Helen Hayes, Devils Bit Macra, North Tipperary The other finalists were: John O Driscoll, Caheragh Macra, Carbery Region, Cork Claire Gough, Athboy Macra, Meath Jonathan Dwyer, Devils Bit Macra, North Tipperary The purpose of the competition is to promote Young Leaders and acknowledge the volunteers in Macra and the massive amount of work they put into developing their local communities. “The participants across the competition demonstrated...