Encouraging younger people to go into farming and transferring the family farm are two issues which are high on the agenda for farmers when it comes to Budget 2026.
But farmers at Blessington Mart, which has been in business since the 1950s with sheep and cattle sales held every week throughout the year, also told Agriland that tax reliefs are vitally important to farm families.
In addition to this they want to make sure that the measures delivered by the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe and the Minister for Public Expenditure, Jack Chambers, in the budget tomorrow (Tuesday, October 7) actively keep people in farming.
But this is against the backdrop now of some concerns flagged by farming organisations about the level of specific supports that may materialise for various sectors and whether the new Bovine TB Action Plan will be funded at the expense of some schemes.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) received €2.112 billion in Budget 2025 which represented an increase of €158 million on the previous year and contained €85 million in new measures.
This included:
According to the president of the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA), Francie Gorman, "Fianna Fail committed to provide €350 per cow and €35 per ewe with the current Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon's party Fine Gael promising €300 per cow and €30 per ewe.”
Gorman has warned there "can be no row back on these commitments".
Separately the president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA), Denis Drennan, has also called on the government to "make good" on the commitments it made a year ago in Budget 2025.
According to Drennan the issue of "income volatility" should not be dodged in Budget 2026.
Meanwhile the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers' Association (INHFA) has also warned that direct supports are "still critical" for farmers.
Because although many farmers may have had a positive year so far they are also "well aware that prices could turn and with costs that remain very high, they could find themselves operating at break-even or even at a loss".
According to the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) Budget 2026 must fundamentally deliver "meaningful national support".
It has cautioned that if this does not happen then Ireland could "risk losing the very people who produce our food".
Additional reporting by Breifne O'Brien