UFU groups host series of meeting discussing EU, health and security

Editorial Department • Published 4 Mar 2010 14:00 0 Comments

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Andrew Wilson (South East Fermanagh UFU Group Chairman) with Vanessa Whyte and Philip Clarke, Speakers.

Ulster Farmers' Union groups in Fermanagh have been holding their last winter meetings with guests speaking on a variety of topics.

There was a tremendous attendance of UFU members at the recent North Fermanagh group meeting at Enniskillen Campus on February 4 2010 when Richard Wright, the well known BBC agricultural broadcaster and journalist, entertained and informed members with his thoughts on the future of Northern Ireland farming from an EU perspective.

After highlighting his Fermanagh connections, Richard began by outlining to the members how the EU is progressing towards CAP reform after 2013. The task of taking the Common Agricultural Policy into a new period is now under the leadership of Romanian, Dician Ciolos, the EU Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner. Even at this stage, plans are already beginning to gain momentum as to the future shape of the CAP.

Richard explained that the recent recession across the EU along with the increase in the size of the EU will put pressure on the budget for the next CAP period 2014-2020 and there may be a re-balance of the distribution of funds between member sates, regions and farmers.

It still early days in the discussions, but Richard felt that the debate on CAP post 2013 will mainly be influenced by the amount of the EU budget available, food security and labelling and on environmental issues arising from climate change with a focus on the public good by creating a diverse, well maintained countryside.

He stated that Mr. Ciolos was young, and keen to make his mark on the future of the CAP. A discussion then followed with members asking Richard about a range of topics such as the size of the EU and if it is now too big to have a Common Agricultural Policy, Brazilian beef, export refunds and the World Trade talks along with questions on Richard's own career progression.

Mr. Harold Hamilton then thanked Richard Wright for his informative presentation and Richard expressed his pleasure in attending the North Fermanagh UFU meeting.

The first speaker at the South West Fermanagh UFU meeting was Richard Alcorn, a member of Clanabogan Young Farmers Club (YFC). Richard has availed of the YFC exchangee programme and has visited America and Switzerland.

Richard provided an excellent overview of the experiences he had whilst on the exchange programme and gave a very interesting overview of the contrasting farming practices in both countries. Members were treated to an excellent presentation which portrayed very well how farming occurred in these areas.

The area visited in America was Montana where the average herd size was about 2000 cows and milking occurred for 21 hours a day. Richard also talked about the rodeos he visited. Fermanagh Ulster Farmers' Union Chairman, Derek Thornton had a special interest in this area - he fulfilled one of his "dreams" in Montana.

By contrast, the average herd size in the area Richard visited in Switzerland was 30 cows! The farm he stayed at was in the Alps. The farm had one main barn with the parlour located on the lower level. Interestingly, the upper area of the barn is turned into a 200-seater restaurant during the Ski Season. The farmer is also responsible for the maintaining of the ski runs in the area close to his farm. Farm diversification was certainly apparent.

Richard concluded by thanking YFC for the opportunities the Exchange programme has brought him and urged any members with children in YFC to consider these opportunities.

The second speaker of the evening was Catherine McGuigan, Business Development Manager from the McElwaine Group. Micheal Kelly from the McElwaine Group was also present.

Catherine provided an insight into the many services provided by McElwaine Smart. These include Telecare, Lone Worker Protection, SmartWatch and TeleHealth. Members were amazed that all these services were available and that they were on our doorstep.

Smartwatch is a security management system that monitors property via CCTV all year around. This was discussed in relation to farms and how vehicle registrations can be identified and reported to the farmer. Farmers were concerned at the many recent thefts that have occurred and concluded that extra security and vigilance is indeed required. Tracking devices for high value tractors were also discussed.

The Group Chairman, Collum Graham thanked the guest speakers for coming along and for providing interesting and informative presentations.

The Ulster Farmers' Union South East Fermanagh Group held their meeting in the Donn Carragh Hotel, Lisnaksea on Thursday, February 4, 2010.

The Chairman, Andrew Wilson opened the meeting and welcomed the Guest Speakers Vanessa Whyte and Philip Clarke to the meeting.

Vanessa spoke on the subject of pneumonia and her main topics included the impact of disease, pneumonia cost, early detection of symptoms and disease profile. Pneumonia is caused by viruses, bacteria and mycoplasma SPP. The risk factors that were discussed were housing, over crowding, mixing and moving. A summary of risk factors were provided - these are animal, environment, pathogens and treatment.

Philip spoke on fluke which is a year round problem. This included the change of climate; it has been found that the warmer and wetter weather has increased the number of cases. He also spoke about the fluke life cycle, adult fluke impact, source of fluke and the treatment of grass - when it should be treated and the type of solution to be used.

Ivan Armstrong, Vice-Chairman thanked the speakers.

John Fleming, Basil Little and Robert Kettyle updated the members on their commodities.

The Chairman reminded the members of the forthcoming Ulster Farmers' Union President's Dinner on Friday, March 26, 2010 in Slieve Donard Hotel, Newcastle.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 04 Mar 10

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