Green Pages Feed Trade Topics from the Island of Ireland


IFA AND GLANBIA REACH AGREEMENT ON INCREASED GRAIN PRICES Following a deal with Glanbia that will see growers paid a higher price for wheat and barley, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has stood down their protest at the Glanbia feed mills in Portlaoise and Clonroche. The feed barley price, including contracted winter Cassia


barley, will increase by €3 for members and €1 for non-members. The feed wheat price will increase by €5 for members and €3 for non-members. A market-based review structure will be explored, and Glanbia


has committed to implement a strategic development plan for the sector. “I want to acknowledge the engagement by Glanbia in recent


days and the price increases,” said Joe Healy, IFA president. “The strategic development plan has to deliver real benefits for growers.” IFA grain committee chairman Mark Browne said grain farmers


are under significant income pressure. This deal will mean an increased price paid for barley and wheat. It will also help to strengthen the overall grain market. “I want to thank the IFA Grain Committee, growers and IFA officers for supporting the protest,” said Browne.


ICMSA AND BREXIT The president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), Pat McCormack, has said that the Brexit agreement reached between the EU and UK prime minister Boris Johnson has to be welcomed. He believes that the challenge is now to get this deal approved by the House of Commons — as quickly as possible. This is to allow a new atmosphere of certainty and positivity to replace the negativity that has developed, due in part to Brexit, around Irish farming and food. Mr. McCormack said that after the population of the UK itself,


the people most psychologically exhausted and ‘worn down’ by the whole three-year-long drama were Irish farmers. He stated that they had it on their minds “first thing in the morning and last thing at night and have paid a very heavy price financially to date, particularly in the beef sector”. “Whatever happens now — and we always have to remember that


whatever comes out of this hoped-for agreement, it will categorically not be as smooth and seamless as the conditions we have now with


PAGE 28 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019 FEED COMPOUNDER


the UK as a Member State — we at least will have some idea of the business landscape we’ll be traversing and the agreement will being a level of certainty and stability,” continued McCormack. “Any certainty, any degree of predictability, is so welcome after these three years of daily confusion and anxiety that we must welcome it — albeit in the knowledge that there is no such thing as a good Brexit. “But ICMSA is convinced that we have to take what good


is available and now go forward; we have to take the relief and certainty and, insofar as it’s possible, we have to use it to re-energise our sector and bring some focus to the questions that, perhaps understandably, we have parked for the last three years,” concluded McCormack. “Hopefully, this deal will be approved by the House of Commons, and if approved, then it will be time to get back to our business and start working again in the knowledge that the worst has been averted.”


TEAGASC ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR 2018


Excluding the net deferred funding for pensions, Teagasc income in 2018 was €195 million (€187 million in 2017). The organisation is Ireland’s national body providing integrated research, advisory and training services to the agriculture and food industry and rural communities. The accounts also confirm an increase of €6.432 million in grant


in aid compared to 2017. Research income increased by €1.924 million (6.3%), including increases of €1.835 million in externally funded research grants, €481,000 in analysis fees and €523,000 in other research income and a reduction of €988,000 in livestock trading income. Knowledge transfer income fell by €3.251 million (12.7%), with a


drop of €1.639 million in advisory services income and €1.646 million in course fee/student fee income. Proceeds of €488,000 were secured in 2018 for sales of assets and there was additional one-off capital funding of €1.935 million for the development of Johnstown Castle and the purchase of a parcel of farmland.


GLANBIA IRELAND SETS OUT ITS PLANS FOR THE IRISH GRAIN SECTOR Glanbia Ireland, the largest buyer and user of Irish grains, has set out its plans to help secure the future of its members. The organisation has held discussions on measures to help place


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68