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Category Archives: Irish agri-food strategy
HAVE WE FORGOTTEN TO FEED THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND?
One frequently reads about the plight of liquid milk producers in Ireland; about how the price that they are paid does not meet the extra costs of producing milk all year and that this is jeopardising their future. Is fresh … Continue reading
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LET US ALL JUST BLAME THE POOR OLD COW
There was a time before the days of widespread dietary guidelines where people started the day not on muesli and skimmed milk but on pig fat and onion. It was a time when a skinny latte was not even a … Continue reading
SPINNING A YARN TO IRELAND’S FARMERS
Ever since arriving in Ireland back in 2013, the author has been amazed at how active the press and the agricultural establishment has been at telling farmers what they need to know and the information that they should be basing … Continue reading
ARE SOME COWS NOW MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS?
Having spent much of this Millennium working on investment plans for dairy farming and milk processing, I am used to looking at variations in those that supply the milk. They have included species variables [cows, sheep and water buffalo] and … Continue reading
THE NEXT 35 YEARS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT!
“The next 35 years will be the most important ever in agriculture and that’s why we need to get it right today”, Jack Bobo, Agricultural Science Association, 2016, Kilkenny. A quote from the ASA conference that I completely agree with. … Continue reading
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WHERE TO NOW FOR ‘CHEMICAL AGRICULTURE’?
From the perspective of the casual observer of agriculture, all may appear relatively quiet. Dig deeper and one begins to understand that farming is heading into an era of profound change. The goalposts are going to be moving fast in … Continue reading
WILL BREXIT USHER IN A GREEN REVOLUTION IN THE UK?
From what one has read, many within the UK’s farming community voted to leave the EU. They were probably aware that they were risking their CAP-originating payments but the idea that an EU exit would massively reduce farming’s bureaucratic burden … Continue reading
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ARE WE BEING LED BY A HORSEMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE?
So two major issues have hove into view at the same time. One, the climate-change emissions reduction targets we were expecting, the other, Brexit, came rather out of the blue. These are now unfolding upon an industry that is already … Continue reading
GOING BACK TO THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING
After three years of following food and farming in Ireland, there is one thing that is repetitive when it comes to marketing. It is the highlighting of this or that new market opportunity. Probably most famously of all we had … Continue reading
IS RURAL IRELAND TO BE BREXIT’S COLLATERAL DAMAGE?
A month on and has one’s perspective on Brexit changed? Not greatly. The positive is that the UK now has a new government; well at least a new old one. Is it a re-tread, a reshuffling of the existing Tory … Continue reading
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