Kilkenny farmer protests as cost pressures continue to impact farm incomes

Unrest is growing in the farming community at the ‘over regulation’ of the industry and rising input costs. A protest as well as a meeting with local politicians have taken place in Kilkenny, this week.

IFA President Francie Gorman said CSO figures for agriculture in 2023 show that farmers are still caught in a ‘cost-price’ squeeze.

“While input costs have reduced by 5.5%, the price paid to farmers has fallen further by 8.2% over the 12-month period, resulting in the terms of trade falling by 2.9% when compared to 2022. This is on top of a 6.2% decline in 2022. This means the bottom line for farmers has disimproved by about 9% in the last two years,” he said.

Mr Gorman said the net effect for farmers is that the shock to the system of spiralling input costs, caused primarily by the Ukraine war, is still having a big impact.

The price farmers receive for milk is down 39% from 2022, with cereals down by almost 32%. These reductions are substantially more than the single digit decrease in input costs.
The IFA President said part of the frustration for farmers is that the cost of regulation is adding to the overall burden on farmers.

“The message from our recent protest is that farmers cannot be taken for granted. Our government and the EU Commission have to take this into account when it comes to designing farm policy.”

Demonstration
Members of Kilkenny IFA, lead by new County Chairman Brendan Hickey, met local councillors to raise their concerns about the over-regulation of the industry, on Monday.
An IFA demonstration also took place on flyover over the M9, at Garrandarragh, Mullinavat, last Thursday.