Farmers must get through to parents 'warped by Facebook' - Minister tells Laois meeting

Better communication by all in farming to the public is needed as part of a 'reboot' of agriculture to communicate its value to Ireland and the qualty produce delivered.

That was one of many messages delivered by the new Minister for Agriculture Food, Fisheries and the Marine Martin Heydon at a meeting with farmers in Portlaoise where he also told them that he hopes to bring the passion his late mother instilled in him for farming to the new role as a Cabinet Ministerial.

The Minister spoke at the AGMs of the ICSA and the Irish Grain Growers in Portlaoise in the past week.

Addressing the meeting of Irish Grain Growers, he complimented the for being a 'very effective voice' over the years. The organisation’s outgoing Chair is Laois man Bobby Miller and the new Chair is James Kelly who farms in Kildare near the Laois border.

He acknowledged the pressures tillage farmers are under inside and outside the farm gate. However, he said it is a moment for all involved in farming to reboot.

“I want to communicate a fresh understanding of what it is our farmers, fishers, foresters and food industry contribute to our society," he told the meeting covered by the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

“We need to better communicate the contribution that agriculture makes. The roots of this sector runs deep and there is not a parish in this country that is not enriched by the contribution farmers make or where some small business does not depend on farming for the contribution of the sector,” he said.

He outlined the scale of this in his speech to the grain growers in the Killeshin Hotel.

“The sector is responsible for the stewardship of 4.5 m hectares of agricultural land and over 800 hectares of forestry. It consists of 133,000 farms. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

Tillage farmers at the Irish Grain Growers meeting in the Killeshin Hotel, Portlaoise on Friday, February 14. Pic: Denis Byrne

“It employs over 171,000 people and 6.4% of the total workforce. The proportion is far higher than that in rural and coastal areas,” he said.

Minister Heydon said the tillage sector is integral to that. However, he insisted that it is one part of farming, that to be successful, requires dairy, beef and other farms to succeed.

“I always like to use the analogy that farming is a bit like a gearbox. If one of the gears breaks the whole thing doesn’t work. I strongly believe every sector in agriculture is interdependent. The importance of the tillage sector isn’t just important to the tillage sector. It’s important to everybody.

“Some sectors need to be reminded of that and woebetide any sector of agricultural who that if another sector is going badly it might be to their benefit. That is not how it works - we all need each other and need to work together for the better of the industry,” he said.

Minister Heydon said Irish agriculture is forward-looking, dynamic and innovative.

“We need to project that image. I want to ask a few hard questions as to how we want to portray the sector,” he said.
He said it must be asked if the sector can attract commercial investment needed to develop and if can it compete in Europe where there is a demand for more spending on defence.

He said answers are needed as to whether agriculture can contribute to economic growth, regional development and social sustainability.

“I emphatically believe that the answer to all of these questions is yes but we must get better at telling our story,” he said.

The Fine Gael Minister said he was happy to make the case publicly on RTÉ and elsewhere for farming but farmers themselves, their organisations and agri-food business also have to do more.

“It can’t just be on me. It’s up to farming organisations, individuals, industry to communicate better because we are up some very well-funded slick campaigns that have a different message that does not represent the truth,” he said.

He believes that farmers must look to communicate with people in towns and cities.

“We have an urban-based population who are further removed from the land. Your Dublin dwellers used to go home to their country cousins during summer and learn where their food comes from, there is less of that now. My fear is that a young child in an urban setting might ask mammy or daddy where their food comes from and mammy and daddy might have a pretty warped view based on something that they saw on facebook to what the lived experience.

“That means we must communicate even better how great our food production is and why it is important to continue to support it,” he said.

He spoke about how important farming was during Brexit, the pandemic, wars in Ukraine and Gaza as well as the cost of living crisis.

“During these extraordinary challenges, Irish agriculture and food have continued to make a significant contribution to the Irish economy. It is estimated that the tillage sector contributed €1.9 billion to the Irish economy over that period,” he said.
He said there are challenges facing farmers and agriculture but schemes have been successful to support farmers and he remains committed.

Specifically on tillage, he said the Government wishes to support the expansion of the tillage sector but he admitted that it must first be stabilised. He spoke about the Food Vision Group as a means to deliver ambitions for tillage.

Touching on the nitrate derogation, he said it would be a priority for him in 2025 and all farmers have a role to play in reducing the loss of nutrients into water courses.

He said the Programme for Government includes a commitment to establish a cabinet water committee to improve water quality across all sectors not just agriculture.

“We need to work together to build on the momentum that exists across the sector to improve water quality. Any reduction in Ireland’s Nitrates Derogation stocking rate limit will have significant indirect across all farming sectors and the broader rural economy,” he said.

Speaking about the next CAP, he said he would become chairperson of the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers when Ireland assumes the presidency of the EU in the second half of 2026.

He said he would use the next 16 months to build relationships with other ministers and the Agriculture Commissioner to put the foundations in place on what Ireland wants to achieve in the next CAP.

He highlighted simplification as an aim in new schemes.

He also spoke about his journey to becoming Minister. He said his gandfather Timmy Fennin had close ties to Laois as he farmed near Stradbally just inside the Kildare border. Timmy was involved in many aspects of life in Stradbally.

He spoke of his subsequent upbringing on a Kildare farm where his mother Sheila took the reins after his father Martin died and how this has impacted his political career.

“I am the youngest of three, I had two older sisters, the only boy born into a beef farm as it was at the time.

“Unfortunately, my father died when I was eight and left my mam a widow at the age of 43 with three young children,” he said.

He spoke proudly of his mother Sheila.

“She faced so many challenges in a male-dominated industry. It may still be male-dominated but in the 1980s it was even more challenging for a young female farmer.

“I saw that she took on the challenge and was surrounded by fantastic neighbours. The easiest thing for her to have done was set up the farm and raise the three of us with the proceeds but she said if I was raised on a farm that was leased I would never take over the farm.

“Mam who, unfortunately, I lost three years ago instilled a passion in me for farming and that is a passion that I promise to bring to his role as Minister for Agriculture,” he said.