Strong Start to International Farm Management Congress

From left: JJ Harty, chairman of the organising committee; Malcolm Stansfield, president of the IFMA; Joe Walsh, TD and Professor Robert Thompson, University of Illinois.

The 16th International Farm Management Congress takes place in Cork this week. The theme of this year's congress is 'A Vibrant Rural Economy - The Challenge for Balance'. Delegates from all over the world arrived in Cork on Sunday, 15 July, to participate in an impressive programme of conferences and tours that take place throughout the week.

Speaking at the Congress in UCC, Malcolm Stansfield, president of the IFMA said: "We are having a highly successful congress with 280 delegates from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and Nigeria, as well as a large number of delegates from Europe and Asia."

JJ Harty, chairman of the organising committee and principal of Teagasc Agricultural College, Clonakilty, said: "Delegates who took part in the pre-Conference tour were enthralled by the optimism and enthusiasm of dairy farmers in this country."

Professor Robert Thompson, University of Illinois, presented a paper entitled 'Global Agriculture in Transition - Opportunities and Constraints'. Speaking in Cork he said: "The US has effectively decided to go for ethanol production rather than grain exports, which means the world market will be available to those who can compete for it."

He continued, "Half of China's population has been left behind in the current boom, these people are largely in rural areas away from the coastal cities. If they were to begin to share in the income growth we would see another huge boost in demand for higher value foodstuffs."

Michael Hamell, DG Environment, European Commission, presented a paper on 'Environmental Issues - a Challenge for Agriculture'. He said: "Farmers should be repaid for environmental services to society but that they must obey legislation and acknowledge the polluter pays principle. Biofuels must deliver a real contribution to greenhouse gas reduction and have no undesirable side effects." He pointed out that ploughing up grassland could release a lot of carbon dioxide and it could take up to 100 years to recapture that carbon dioxide.

Peter Kendall vice president of COPA pointed out that the needs of developed and underdeveloped countries were different. "Globalisation is with us, and is an unstoppable force but we must not allow countries with lower environmental standards to undermine our markets", he said. He is highly positive about the future with his optimism partly boosted by the fact that grain prices in the UK are double their level at this time last year.