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Much has been written about the calamitous pollution going into the atmosphere from dairy cows in this country. To counter this, a proposal is being worked on to reduce the size of the national dairy herd by 10% over the next three years.  Macra President Ms Elaine Houlihan said “I am astounded that we are looking to reduce our national herd of dairy cows by 180,000 head in the next three years, while Brazil is planning to increase its herd by 30 million head by 2030.”  Ms. Houlihan continued, “the emissions all go into the same atmosphere, with the difference that...

Macra attended the National Economic Dialogue in Dublin Castle today, 12 June 2023. The theme of the dialogue was “economy in 2030 enabling a sustainable future for all.” Macra was in attendance to represent rural youth and put forward the budgetary requirements needed to secure the future of rural Ireland and its inhabitants.  Macra National President Elaine Houlihan, Chair of Agricultural Affairs Liam Hanrahan, and CEO Mick Curran, represented Macra at today’s event in three separate breakout sessions:  1) Moving to a sustainable food system, 2) Leveraging digital in the future of work and employment service delivery, 3) Charting a sustainable path towards achieving...

Nominations are being Accepted! The FBD Young Farmer of the Year Awards are run annually by Macra na Feirme in partnership with the IFA. The competition was launched in 1999 and has been successful in raising the profile of young farmers within their community by recognising their achievements and contribution to farming. If you are interested why not click here to apply >>  

  Macra National President Elaine Houlihan and Agriculture Affairs Chair Liam Hanrahan attended the Taoiseach’s roundtable meeting with farm organisations to discuss policy priorities from the farming organisations.   Macra has long proposed an on-farm succession scheme that supports the older generation of farmers to step back while also supporting the younger generation in their desire to become active farmers.   “We are pleased that the Taoiseach has given commitment to review our farm succession scheme, a scheme which was supported by other farm organisations yesterday, we are hopeful that this will be included in the upcoming budget. Farm succession is vitally...

  Macra National President Elaine Houlihan and Agriculture Affairs Chair Liam Hanrahan attended the Taoiseach’s roundtable meeting with farm organisations to discuss policy priorities from the farming organisations.  At this meeting, Macra brought up many issues that were pertinent to Irish Agriculture such as nitrates, nature restoration, succession and the so called “Forgotten Farmers.”  In October 2022, Minister McConalogue announced that a scheme to support the Forgotten Farmers was forthcoming. In the meeting with Ms. Houlihan, the commitment to resolve the ‘Forgotten Farmers’ matter was reiterated.   “We welcome the assurances that the ‘Forgotten Farmers’ issue will not be left unresolved....