Recent issues of the Irish Farmers Journal have featured many articles and pictures of farmers demonstrating about the state of the agricultural economy.
This week's front cover, for example, has Irish farmers gathered outside a supermarket distribution centre in Co Kildare protesting at the discounting of lamb and beef.
The previous week's front cover had Irish farmers gathered outside the EU council building in Luxembourg protesting at the poor state of the dairy market.
Quite apart from the Irish penchant for a good old get-together, the wave of demonstrations is hardly surprising when you look at the latest farm income figures from the national farm advisory service Teagasc.
These show that, for 2008, average family farm income fell 14% to just €16,993 - equivalent to about £14,600. This was mainly due to the sharp rise in input costs and a decline in returns on dairy and tillage farms.....
More alarming for the Irish, (and farmers just about everywhere else in Europe), is that this downward trend is set to continue in 2009.
With milk prices down by 25% and cattle down by 7%, the Irish Farmers Association is predicting another 16% farm income fall this year, taking the total drop to over 30% in just two years.
Ironically, on-farm investment in Ireland actually increased to record levels in 2008, with a massive €2bn spent on new buildings and machinery, on top of the €1.4bn invested in 2007.
But this was primarily due to the availability of grant aid under the Farm Waste Management Scheme as dairy farmers in particular moved to comply with the EU Nitrates Directive.
This dependence on subsidies is also evidenced in the Teagasc report by the fact that direct payments to farmers now contribute 31% to total farm revenue and account for 103% of farm income.
Without this taxpayer support there would be no profit at all on most Irish farms - not last year, and certainly not this.
Little wonder then that the Irish are amongst the least enthusiastic when it comes to the current debate about the next stage of CAP reform. Anything that might change the way farmers are paid is viewed with deep suspicion - both by the farming community and their political representatives in government.
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