FARMER SURVEY EXPLORES ATTITUDES TO PASTURE BASED AND HIGH INPUT SYSTEMS

Farmer survey explores attitudes to pasture based and high input systems.

It’s a pivotal time for dairy farming in Ireland. As the sector expands decisions farmers make now will shape the sector for years to come. Ireland’s low cost pasture based system is seen as a significant comparative advantage for many in the industry. However, others maintain that there are limitations to this system: lack of land for expansion, bad weather limiting forage production, and lock in to a seasonal milk profile. Some maintain that there is room for systems that increase milk yield through bought in feed.

There has been very little research on farmers’ views about the future of their industry. The ‘Cows eat grass, don’t they?’ research project carried out by Orla Shortall at the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen focuses on farmer, stakeholder and public views about the future of the dairy sectors in the UK and Ireland. The project involves a survey with dairy farmers to listen to their views on the future of their industry.

The survey is for any commercial dairy farmers in the Republic of Ireland and UK. It takes around 10-15 minutes to complete. Questions cover production systems and opinions.

“Ireland and the UK make for a very interesting comparison.” said Orla “The UK sector is made up of a variety of production systems; from low input to high input indoor systems, whereas the Irish sector is more uniformly pasture based. I’m very interested to hear farmers’ views about how they want the sector to change post-quotas. Whether pasture is the future or there’s appetite for different production systems.”

As a gesture of goodwill €2 will be donated for every survey completed to charities helping struggling farmers: the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) in England and Wales; the Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RSABI); Rural Support in Northern Ireland; and the Mind our Farm Families phoneline in Ireland run by Pieta House and the IFA. The project aims to raise €1500 for these charities in total.

The survey can be found at: http://surveys.hutton.ac.uk/docowseatgrass. More information about the project can be found at: www.docowseatgrass.org.