Henry Corbally (centre).
Henry Corbally, former Glanbia chair and Meath IFA chair
“The Farmers Journal has been bought in hard copy in our house every week since ever I can remember, and I’m not too far off being 70. It has brought all of the farming information into our house.
“I would say, along with Teagasc and other educational sources, the Farmers Journal has been the biggest driver of change on our farm and, I think, on a lot of other farms. It has kept us up to date with what’s happening, both in terms of management systems, and what’s happening politically in Ireland and in Europe and in the agricultural world all over the world.
“Outside of the farm and in the co-op world and in the world of IFA, I’ve always felt that the pulse or the mood of the day has been expressed in the Farmers Journal, whether that be good or whether it be bad on the day.”
Donie Cashman (right).
Donal Cashman, former IFA president and Agricultural Trust board member (1973-2011)
“I’ve been reading the Irish Farmers Journal avidly since I started farming in 1955. So, I saw the evolution from very heavily physical work on farms, to complete mechanisation and computerisation.
“I get the Journal delivered by post now but I can go look at the electronic version if I want anytime.
“As my wife says, ‘You eat the Journal’. It might be as good a description as any. It has been a very important part of agriculture and its evolution and development.”
Breffni Carpenter.
Breffini Carpenter, formerly Department of Agriculture, WTO and European Commission
“The standard of journalism in the Journal has always been hugely impressive, because the resources are devoted to actually getting the stories right. It’s unusual enough for people not in the press office in Government departments, to be available to talk to the media, which I always was, because I believed in getting the facts out there.
“For example, when John Shirley used to write the premium notes, on how to get your grants, subsidies, the special beef premium, we used to give them lists every week of the most common errors on application forms so we could reduce the error rate.
“It was a win-win situation for me because it meant our error rate was reduced. It was very important to have that relationship, and it was based on trust.”
Dermot Kelleher.
Dermot Kelleher
, ICSA president and west Cork suckler farmer
“I left home as a young fellow, I went away working, driving a truck. But I always wanted to be farming, and my link was always to buy the Journal.
“I came home in 1980 to go farming and what [the Journal] means to a lot of farmers is that you get a sense of what’s current and what problems are coming down the track.
“Information is awfully important. Without information, we’re going nowhere. I go through the Journal, and you get information that’s very important. It mightn’t be today or tomorrow, but it will be needed in time.”
Katherine O'Leary.
Katherine O’Leary, Irish Country
Living columnist and dairy farmer
“I remember my grandmother talking about the very first Journals, and how the red [ink] part of them was great for putting rouge on your cheeks.
“It’s just an integral part of farming. We used to have a lot of students down through the years, when the original Farm Apprenticeship Board was there.
“I remember Tim saying to a student one time: ‘You read that Journal from cover to cover every week and you’ll get enough information to pass your exams.’ And that is the nub of it, really. All the information is there, with all the different viewpoints, and so on. It’s a unique and fantastic publication. And every day I love being part of it.”
David Brown (left).
David Brown,
Ulster Farmers’
Union president
“The Irish Farmers Journal was something that fundamentally, I suppose, was kind of a must in terms of getting the latest and the most up to date information.
“Our engagement with the Irish Farmers Journal, and indeed with the journalists that are within it, they come to us seeking stories, but equally, sometimes we become the story.
“The northern edition is obviously most relevant [to me], but equally, the content that the Irish Farmers Journal has probably cuts across agriculture both north and south.”
Kevin Kinsella.
Kevin Kinsella, former IFA director of livestock
“I think the Journal is much bigger than just a paper that is produced every Thursday. I think it’s an institution in itself. It’s about a way of life for the farmers on the ground.
“When you grew up in a farm family like that, the Journal was always there, it was always on the kitchen table.
“So, when you come in for dinner or lunch, and in the middle of the day the farmers would be having their dinner, they’d pick up the Journal and look at it again for another 20 minutes or half an hour before they’d head back out to work again. So, I think Journal was part of the family.”
Pat O' Keeffe (second from left).
Pat O’Keeffe,
North Cork IFA
chair and pig and dairy farmer
“When I was very young, [the Journal] was one of the very few papers that we used to get. It was treasured, because it would go from one house to another house, because everyone didn’t buy it. But it became a main focal point of what was happening in farming, be it from politics to commercial business, and to when we joined the EEC.”
“Now it’s online on a Wednesday night at 10pm and has content up to date every day, and it’s keeping the consumer, to soak up all the information that is coming with it.”
Elaine Houlihan.
Elaine Houlihan,
Macra president
“It keeps everybody up to date. It keeps us [in Macra] up to date at times, and it keeps the farming community and industry fully up to date. The information that’s provided is vital.”
Karina Pierce (left).
Karina Pierce,
professor of dairy production, UCD
“In my academic position, I use the Journal a good bit because it helps me, and then my students, to keep in touch with the big issues on the ground. I can open the Journal every Thursday, or online Wednesday night, and I can bring it to students on a Thursday and Friday, so that they’re up to speed with what’s happening. I find it really useful for that.”
Andy Doyle (right).
Andy Doyle, former tillage editor, Irish Farmers Journal
“I’ve been involved in agriculture for all of my life, started as a farmer’s son in Wexford, and moved on to UCD and from there, I went to the Farmers Journal, spent another 30-plus years in the Farmers Journal.
“So, I’ve been involved, all my life, with the Journal. We had the Journal at home long before I knew anybody in it, so it’s always been part of my life.
“When I think of what exactly the Journal was set up for, which was to provide technical information to farmers to better their businesses, it’s a great triumph that we have been doing it, and able to continue to do it, and hopefully will continue to do it way into the future.
“It’s a very important part of the weekly education of the farming community, which helps them to thrive and prosper into the future, we hope.”
Henry Corbally (centre).
Henry Corbally, former Glanbia chair and Meath IFA chair
“The Farmers Journal has been bought in hard copy in our house every week since ever I can remember, and I’m not too far off being 70. It has brought all of the farming information into our house.
“I would say, along with Teagasc and other educational sources, the Farmers Journal has been the biggest driver of change on our farm and, I think, on a lot of other farms. It has kept us up to date with what’s happening, both in terms of management systems, and what’s happening politically in Ireland and in Europe and in the agricultural world all over the world.
“Outside of the farm and in the co-op world and in the world of IFA, I’ve always felt that the pulse or the mood of the day has been expressed in the Farmers Journal, whether that be good or whether it be bad on the day.”
Donie Cashman (right).
Donal Cashman, former IFA president and Agricultural Trust board member (1973-2011)
“I’ve been reading the Irish Farmers Journal avidly since I started farming in 1955. So, I saw the evolution from very heavily physical work on farms, to complete mechanisation and computerisation.
“I get the Journal delivered by post now but I can go look at the electronic version if I want anytime.
“As my wife says, ‘You eat the Journal’. It might be as good a description as any. It has been a very important part of agriculture and its evolution and development.”
Breffni Carpenter.
Breffini Carpenter, formerly Department of Agriculture, WTO and European Commission
“The standard of journalism in the Journal has always been hugely impressive, because the resources are devoted to actually getting the stories right. It’s unusual enough for people not in the press office in Government departments, to be available to talk to the media, which I always was, because I believed in getting the facts out there.
“For example, when John Shirley used to write the premium notes, on how to get your grants, subsidies, the special beef premium, we used to give them lists every week of the most common errors on application forms so we could reduce the error rate.
“It was a win-win situation for me because it meant our error rate was reduced. It was very important to have that relationship, and it was based on trust.”
Dermot Kelleher.
Dermot Kelleher
, ICSA president and west Cork suckler farmer
“I left home as a young fellow, I went away working, driving a truck. But I always wanted to be farming, and my link was always to buy the Journal.
“I came home in 1980 to go farming and what [the Journal] means to a lot of farmers is that you get a sense of what’s current and what problems are coming down the track.
“Information is awfully important. Without information, we’re going nowhere. I go through the Journal, and you get information that’s very important. It mightn’t be today or tomorrow, but it will be needed in time.”
Katherine O'Leary.
Katherine O’Leary, Irish Country
Living columnist and dairy farmer
“I remember my grandmother talking about the very first Journals, and how the red [ink] part of them was great for putting rouge on your cheeks.
“It’s just an integral part of farming. We used to have a lot of students down through the years, when the original Farm Apprenticeship Board was there.
“I remember Tim saying to a student one time: ‘You read that Journal from cover to cover every week and you’ll get enough information to pass your exams.’ And that is the nub of it, really. All the information is there, with all the different viewpoints, and so on. It’s a unique and fantastic publication. And every day I love being part of it.”
David Brown (left).
David Brown,
Ulster Farmers’
Union president
“The Irish Farmers Journal was something that fundamentally, I suppose, was kind of a must in terms of getting the latest and the most up to date information.
“Our engagement with the Irish Farmers Journal, and indeed with the journalists that are within it, they come to us seeking stories, but equally, sometimes we become the story.
“The northern edition is obviously most relevant [to me], but equally, the content that the Irish Farmers Journal has probably cuts across agriculture both north and south.”
Kevin Kinsella.
Kevin Kinsella, former IFA director of livestock
“I think the Journal is much bigger than just a paper that is produced every Thursday. I think it’s an institution in itself. It’s about a way of life for the farmers on the ground.
“When you grew up in a farm family like that, the Journal was always there, it was always on the kitchen table.
“So, when you come in for dinner or lunch, and in the middle of the day the farmers would be having their dinner, they’d pick up the Journal and look at it again for another 20 minutes or half an hour before they’d head back out to work again. So, I think Journal was part of the family.”
Pat O' Keeffe (second from left).
Pat O’Keeffe,
North Cork IFA
chair and pig and dairy farmer
“When I was very young, [the Journal] was one of the very few papers that we used to get. It was treasured, because it would go from one house to another house, because everyone didn’t buy it. But it became a main focal point of what was happening in farming, be it from politics to commercial business, and to when we joined the EEC.”
“Now it’s online on a Wednesday night at 10pm and has content up to date every day, and it’s keeping the consumer, to soak up all the information that is coming with it.”
Elaine Houlihan.
Elaine Houlihan,
Macra president
“It keeps everybody up to date. It keeps us [in Macra] up to date at times, and it keeps the farming community and industry fully up to date. The information that’s provided is vital.”
Karina Pierce (left).
Karina Pierce,
professor of dairy production, UCD
“In my academic position, I use the Journal a good bit because it helps me, and then my students, to keep in touch with the big issues on the ground. I can open the Journal every Thursday, or online Wednesday night, and I can bring it to students on a Thursday and Friday, so that they’re up to speed with what’s happening. I find it really useful for that.”
Andy Doyle (right).
Andy Doyle, former tillage editor, Irish Farmers Journal
“I’ve been involved in agriculture for all of my life, started as a farmer’s son in Wexford, and moved on to UCD and from there, I went to the Farmers Journal, spent another 30-plus years in the Farmers Journal.
“So, I’ve been involved, all my life, with the Journal. We had the Journal at home long before I knew anybody in it, so it’s always been part of my life.
“When I think of what exactly the Journal was set up for, which was to provide technical information to farmers to better their businesses, it’s a great triumph that we have been doing it, and able to continue to do it, and hopefully will continue to do it way into the future.
“It’s a very important part of the weekly education of the farming community, which helps them to thrive and prosper into the future, we hope.”
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: