I hear the resignation of Eddie Downey and Pat Smith had an airing at the Meath IFA hustings.

Former Meath chair Diarmuid Lally took issue with Tim Cullinan highlighting the issue of falling IFA revenues.

Lally noted that one of the individuals who was part of Cullinan’s campaign launch had been involved in increasing the presidential and staff wages to the levels they had been at.

Meath men

He said this had been a factor that “ended up with both Pat Smith, a Meath man, and Eddie Downey, our president, being chucked out”.

Cullinan replied: “I’m only treasurer the last two years, I can’t go back in history. I always said that man [Eddie Downey] shouldn’t have resigned his position.”

Cullinan said his point was that IFA finances had almost been brought back into positive terms.

However, the number of members moving away would now create a challenge.

Ella eaten alive by farmers

RTÉ’s Ear to the Ground presenter Ella McSweeney landed herself in hot water over the weekend on Twitter.

Commenting on a tweet that listed food production as one of the things Ireland is good at, the farming presenter replied: “Food production? Effective at exporting beef and dairy (altho at e’mental cost); very poor at producing healthy, affordable variety of Irish foods for domestic market.”

Within minutes, McSweeney was taken to task by numerous high-profile farmers, including IFA president Joe Healy, Jim Mulhall, Julian Hughes and Bill O’Keeffe. Mulhall, chair of the fresh milk producers group, called the tweet “outrageous” and accused her of being on a “crusade” to boost her profile, while Hughes said it was a “really concerning standpoint from someone in a position of note in the media”.

McSweeney insisted her tweet was misinterpreted and did not imply that Irish food was unhealthy.

Ella McSweeney landed herself in hot water at the weekend. \ Jennifer O'Sullivan

New Macra clubs spring up

Since June 2018, nine new Macra clubs have been set up – five in the northwest, three in Munster and one in Leinster. This year at least one new club has been registered in the west – Greenfields Macra based in Headford, Co Galway. It is to launch at the end of the month and I’m told nearly 40 members have signed up. Macra increased its membership numbers last year by over 2,500. It now has over 10,000 members. This week it recognised 2019 Leaders of the Year – Úna Ryan, Dundrum Macra, Tipperary; Pauric Lucid, Causeway Macra, Kerry; and Roisin Lynch, Ramor Macra, Cavan.

Burger King goes meat-free

A ninth-generation Dutch farmer, Jaap Korteweg, has helped to develop Burger King’s meat-free “Rebel Whopper”.

There was much fanfare from the food chain as it launched its meat-free offering across Europe this week, with vegetarians and flexitarians eager to get a hold of the patty.

The Dealer would conduct a taste test but would be afraid of being called a traitor. What the farmer who helped developed it feels, one can only wonder?

Farmers on bikes in Dublin

The Dealer can often be found humming along to that famous Katie Melua song. You know how it goes, “There are nine million bicycles in Beijing”.

Well, it seems farmers may get a chance to sing it on their bike cycling around Dublin in the not-too-distant future; not nine million of them, of course, but maybe 3,000 in a protest.

Apparently there is diverging opinion on what the aesthetics of driving a couple of hundred tractors around Dublin for the day would look like. Greta Thunberg and her supporters may not look on it favourably. One suggestion has been to drive 100 tractors, 100 jeeps and bring 3,000 bicycles for farmers to cycle around Dublin instead.

The Dealer wonders how it will work. Will cycle lanes be used and will helmets and bicycle clips will be worn? Watch this space.

Oh for peat’s sake ...

The Dealer likes to keep abreast of international farming matters and was tuned into the BBC’s Farming Today episode on mushroom growing.

The commercial growers in question said they were concerned with sourcing sustainable peat compost. All well and good, thought The Dealer, until they added the “sustainable” peat they sourced was from Ireland. It would seem far away peat is greener, because with Teagasc refusing to even advocate the use of peat for animal bedding, I’m not sure Irish climate experts would agree it is “sustainable” to export it to our neighbours.