Some 150,000 people are expected to visit the National Ploughing Championships in Grangeford, Tullow, Co Carlow this week where they will see the biggest agricultural show in Europe and one of the world's most important ploughing contests. Most of them will be farming families on leave at the end of the season. The size of the show and sheer range of the hundreds of exhibitors and trade stands show they pack a large commercial punch despite gloomy talk about the future of farming and yesterday's protests outside meat factories over prices.
It is a time of serious transition in Irish agriculture. Next year will see the introduction of the first single payments from the EU to tens of thousands of farmers, following the decision to decouple farm subsidies from production. The average payment will be €11,000; but it is a deceptive figure since the 30,000 or so full-time commercial farmers will receive more than this, while many part-time ones will get much less.
Of the 130,000 farmers figuring in national statistics 80,000 have off-farm jobs, have spouses working or are receiving social welfare. Overall the farm population has dropped from 14 per cent of the national workforce to 5 per cent over the last 10 years. Only 6 per cent of those living in country areas rely solely on agriculture for their incomes. But agriculture supports substantial industries with large workforces and exports elsewhere in the economy.
Such figures tell a story of undoubted social and agricultural success as much as they indicate an uncertain future for farming in Ireland. Maintaining such a large non-farming population in rural areas is a substantial social policy achievement. It can be sustained over the next generation for many families by the annual EU cheques, which require that the land be kept in good agricultural and environmental order. There are more and more outlets for imaginative off-farm or farm-related enterprises among the part-time population if the opportunities are taken up and similar openings for dynamic farmers as demographic change rationalises ownership.
Whether they will be taken up effectively is as uncertain as the likely impact of decoupling. Much will depend on constructive farm leadership. Too often it is negative and reactive rather than forward looking, whether on environmental protection, world trade talks, CAP financing or urban access to the countryside.
A more constructive and productive approach would be to communicate the opportunities facing agriculture and rural Ireland and how they relate to the wider Irish community.