Farmers accuse trade unions of 'living in cloud cuckoo land'

Farmers accused the trade unions and some political leaders of "living in cloud cuckoo land" yesterday for striking over pay cuts.

The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) highlighted how the average member earns just a quarter of the wage of the average public servant.

It came as a new report for the IFA revealed another 28pc drop in farm incomes this year to just €13,000.

"They are misleading the public into believing that there is some crock of gold in the private sector that can be tapped to meet the shortfall in the public finances," said IFA president Padraig Walshe.

The new study showed that government cuts, low prices, the weakness of sterling and high costs had led to a 28pc drop in farm income in 2009 on top of a 13pc fall last year.

This meant average farm income -- including that of part-time farmers -- would be only €13,000 this year, with full-time farmers earning just €16,000 on average, the IFA said.

Collapsing prices and a reduction in the amount of food produced as a result meant that almost €1bn would be wiped off the value of Irish farm output this year, down from €4.8bn to €3.95bn.

While farming costs had also fallen to €2.8bn from a record high of €3.1bn in 2008, this was not nearly enough, however, to offset the losses.

Dairy farmers would be hardest hit, with €476m less paid for their milk, while beef farmers had seen a 10pc cut in prices, wiping €200m off their income.

Cereal farmers were also very badly hit and would see a 27pc drop in prices in 2009, with the value of the sector down 60pc on its peak in 2007.

Pig farmers saw prices fall by 8pc and also suffered a 13pc drop in production as a result of last year’s pork dioxin crisis which led to a huge reduction in the size of the breeding herd.

For poultry farmers there was increased demand for cheaper chicken, meaning that although production was up 6pc, income was on a par with 2008.

While EU and government payments to farmers had only fallen slightly to €1.8bn, the upshot of price collapses was that net national farm income was set to fall from €2.3bn in 2008 to €1.66bn in 2009.

Mr Walshe accused the Government of being in denial about the dire straits farmers were in and called on Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith to stand up and be counted around the cabinet table.

"Most farmers are hanging on by their fingernails and the Government must come forward with immediate action that improves our competitiveness," he said.