NEWS & EVENTS

While welcoming the long-awaited opening of the Forgotten Farmer Scheme designed to provide long-overdue recognition and support for farmers who missed out on payments during the mid-2000s, ICMSA said that the scheme as outlined was unfairly narrow and restrictive. The Association’s Deputy President, Eamon Carroll said that while the scheme’s…

Commenting on today’s announcement on the EU’s MFF and associated CAP reform, the President of ICMSA, Denis Drennan, said that the so-called ‘reforms’ were actually just a speeded-up timetable for the EU’s withdrawal of direct supports to farming and primary food production.   Mr. Drennan said that certainly farmers would not…

The President of ICMSA, Denis Drennan, has called on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine to immediately spell out in full his plans in relation to the Appropriate Assessment for Nitrates and alleviate the enormous uncertainty that now hangs over family dairy farms and, by extension, the wider dairy…

Commenting on the current discussions in relation to milk supply contracts at EU level and the proposal to impose specific requirements on milk processors in terms of written contracts with their suppliers, the Chairperson of ICMSA’s Dairy Committee, Noel Murphy said that it is ICMSA’s strong view that the requirements…

Following on from a meeting with Department of Agriculture officials on Monday 14 July around farmer compliance with the new EU Deforestation Regulations, the Chairperson of ICMSA’s Livestock Committee, Michael O’Connell, has called again on the Department to re-evaluate what he described as a “dizzyingly complicated and cumbersome process” by…

“Processors have been forced to halt price pulling due to dwindling numbers, but some have sought to try ‘pull the wool over farmers eyes’ by quoting base prices of €7.00 for steers and €7.10 for heifers when 20 – 30c/kg more is freely available.  Processors should be ashamed to quote €7.00/kg…

The President of ICMSA, Denis Drennan, has said that the future of many family dairy farms and of the wider dairy sector is at stake arising from the process proposed by the Minister for Agriculture, Food & Marine on an Appropriate Assessment under the Habitats Directive for the purpose of…

Welcoming reports that the EU Commission is under pressure to ban the use of dairy or meat terminology to promote or advertise vegetarian or synthetic foods, the President of ICMSA, Denis Drennan, said that the employment of terms like ‘sausage, ‘burger’ and ‘schnitzel’ in vegetarian or vegan foods was deliberate…

ICMSA has condemned reports that the European Commission is considering a further attempt to greenwash the controversial EU-Mercosur trade deal through a series of non-binding side attachments, describing them as “meaningless political cover for a deeply flawed agreement and simply an attempt to get support for the deal from the…

The delay in announcing the planning exemption for slurry storage is resulting in farmers now postponing investments in slurry storage and this is hugely regrettable in the context of our efforts to improve water quality and immediate Government action is required to address this delay.   The current limbo that some…