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At Macra’s annual conference last weekend the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine told members in attendance that the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine will shortly announce a scheme that will support farmers who are commonly referred to as the ‘Forgotten Farmers’. Macra President John Keane welcomed the announcement and commended the Minister for bringing forward a set of criteria to provide funding for this cohort of farmers. “For over a decade Macra has been actively involved in discussion and has made countless submissions in relation to the forgotten farmers, it is something that has been on our...

Over the coming weeks and months MACRA through its mental health programme ‘Make The Moove’ will deliver tailored specific training to students in Agricultural Colleges across the country. The training is funded by Mental Health Ireland and supported and facilitated by Teagasc, and will run on a pilot basis between now and Christmas. “This training programme has been developed in conjunction with Mental Health Ireland and informed by the issues identified by young rural people as affecting their mental wellbeing. The issues identified included, financial pressures, succession on farm, social media and also the negative perception of farming in the general...

The Food Vision 2030 ‘A World Leader in Sustainable Food Systems’ conference being held in The Printworks Dublin Castle today (Thursday, 13th October) has two common themes namely sustainability and generational renewal. The Conference has been addressed by An Taoiseach and Minister for State Pippa Hackett who both spoke about the importance of sustaining the sector into the future. Mission 2 in the Food Vision 2030 strategy is to create ‘Viable and Resilient Primary Producers, with enhanced Wellbeing.’ A core element of sustainability is the need to support generational renewal across farm enterprises. MACRA National President John Keane said “young farmers...

Press Release: Tuesday 4th October 2022 Another Budget another disappointment for the forgotten farmers Budget 2023 has failed to correct the failings of previous Governments in addressing the issue of the 'forgotten farmers'. The ‘forgotten farmers’ are a combination of farmers who lost out following the removal of young farmer supports such as Installation Aid due to cuts in public expenditure by the Government following the last recession. MACRA national president John Keane said, ‘it is now more than fourteen years since some of these farmers started out in their farming careers, and it is simply not good enough that the...

Banteer Macra Win Bowling Title Congratulations to all the teams who made it to National Dairy Council National Bowling Finals which was held in Limerick on Sunday 25th September. Read More >>