We must fund active suckler, beef, and sheep farmers in Ireland

The president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) Dermot Kelleher has said that government funding is urgently needed to support active suckler, beef and sheep farmers. Kelleher welcomed the recent announcement from the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, that a beef reduction scheme is “off the table” as part of the Climate Action Plan. “It is now imperative that we look at ways of funding active suckler, beef, and sheep farmers to keep them viable and to help them improve efficiency metrics which will also benefit the climate targets. “ICSA fought hard at the Food Vision beef group meetings to protect the suckler herd and it is good to see those efforts pay off. However, more needs to be done,” Kelleher said. Advertisement ICSA During a meeting with Minister McConalogue prior to Christmas, the ICSA proposed a €250 million annual support programme to help farmers to meet climate targets. €80 million would be earmarked for ...