As 2024 draws to a close and 2025 is fast approaching, Agriland asked the Irish Farmers’ Association’s (IFA’s) livestock chair Declan Hanrahan for a review of the work done by the IFA in 2024, and an outlook on the key policy and trade challenges facing Irish suckler and beef farmers in 2025.
In relation to trade deals, Hanrahan said that IFA’s focus for next year will be “outright opposition to the Mercosur deal that the EU Commission President signed off in Uruguay.
He said: “Through our Brussels office, we will be seeking to build alliances with other Member States which oppose the deal.
“We received commitments from the main party leaders at our National Council meeting in November during the General Election campaign, and we expect those to be honoured.”
The IFA livestock chair said that the farm organisation has “vigorously defended live exports throughout the year” and warned that “the new EU Transport Regulation, the Ethical Farming Ireland judicial review and persistent NGO lobbying of policymakers and ferry companies are the challenges to protecting this vital trade for farmers”.
Despite these challenges, he noted that live cattle exports reached record levels in 2024 with a total of 340,240 live cattle exported from Ireland, representing a 14% increase compared to the same period in 2023.
IFA livestock chair on schemes and Indices
Hanrahan said that the farm organisation raised concerns with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) regarding the ease of access to the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme (SCEP) platform for a significant cohort of suckler farmers.
He said: “Following calls from the IFA to provide additional SCEP training events, the DAFM provided 11 in-person SCEP training events across four provinces in October and November.”
Hanrahan added that the farm organisation ensured the National Beef Welfare Scheme (NBWS) was “practical to implement on farms with measures that added value for farmers”.
The key measures in NBWS were meal feeding and vaccination.
The IFA participated in the ICBF stakeholder forum meetings throughout 2024 to address concerns about the new indices.
Hanrahan said that the significant flexibilities to SCEP requirements related to the indices, were secured ensuring the changes in November negatively impacted no farmers.
He highlighted that the IFA will “continue to engage with ICBF to deliver an index with suckler farmers’ and pedigree breeders’ trust and confidence”.
Budget and Bord Bia
Hanrahan highlighted that an additional €28 million in funding was secured for the national exchequer suckler cow scheme in 2025 and said: “This increase in funding will provide a payment of €75/cow, which, when combined with the SCEP, returns up to €225/suckler cow for 2025.”
The IFA livestock chair stressed that the scheme “must be designed to ensure minimal leakage of funds from participant farmers and have the 40-animal maximum removed”.
He noted that additional funding has been provided for dairy-beef calves and said that “the IFA is seeking the provision of a calf-rearing scheme with this funding”.
The farmer representative group is actively involved in the Bord Bia technical advisory committee (TAC), which reviews the Quality Assurance (QA) standard for livestock farmers.
On this issue, Hanrahan said that the IFA “has raised concerns about the direction of travel of the Bord Bia proposals concerning all elements of the standard and of the inspection process” and added that the IFA “is seeking a simplified farmer-friendly audit process”.