THREE IN FOUR farmers would vote for a new farmers’ political party should one emerge, a new survery has found. 

The Irish Farmers Journal carried out the survey amoung 1,982 readers. This was independently analysed and verified by Ifac. 

When asked if they would give their first preference vote to a farmers’ party, 72% of respondents, almost three-quarters, said they would be likely to.

Of those, 28% said they would be highly likely to. Only 7% said they would be highly unlikely to, with a further 10% unlikely to, leaving 11% as indifferent.

The overwhelming support for a farmers’ party was consistent across all farm sectors.

Some 74% of dairy farmers said they were likely to give their first preference vote to such a party compared to 69% of tillage farmers. 71% of suckler and sheep farmers would give a farmers’ party their first preference vote, as would 73% of cattle finishers.

The Irish Independent today reported that the Farmers’ Alliance have decided to form a political party and will run candidates in the upcoming local and national elections. 

It reported that the party will have no connection to either the Rural Independent Group of TDs or to Michael Fitzmaurice’s new rural political party. 

Minister for Agriculture

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue’s rating among farmers has fallen significantly this year, the survery found.

Just 21% of almost 1,900 farmers surveyed believe that the minister is doing a good job. Only 2%, one in 50, rate his performance as very good.

In the Irish Farmers Journal last survey in January, 37% of farmers saw him as performing well. That represents a drop from one in three farmers viewing McConalogue’s performance positively to one on five. This marks a reversal of a trend through 2022 where his performance rating among farmers was rising in the surveys.

The Irish Farmers Journal noted that 2022 was a much better year for farmers, in terms of price, weather, and animal and crop performance than this difficult year.

In January, only 27% of farmers viewed the minister’s performance negatively. Now that figure is 46%, a rise of 19%.

The number of farmers who view his performance indifferently has grown slightly, from 36% to 39%.

McConalogue’s positive rating is strongest among tillage farmers, at 30%. He fares worst among dairy farmers with only 16% viewing him positively.

The survey found that Fine Gael’s support among farmers continues to fall.

It has dropped to 34%, down 4% since last December – and 14% since 2018.

Despite this, it remains the most popular party, at 34%.

Support for Independent candidates continues to rise among farmers, with 24% making Independents the second highest “party” among farmers, ahead of Fianna Fáil and holding twice the amount of support of Sinn Féin.

Fianna Fáil’s support is holding at 23%. Sinn Féin’s support is static at 12%. 

Income drop

Some 79% of farmers surveyed by the Irish Farmers Journal expect their farm income to fall in 2023 and only 4% are anticipating a rise on their 2022 income.

The suckler sector is the most optimistic group to report income fluctuation, with 29% expecting it to stay the same or increase this year.

However, most still forecast a fall. Only 25% of sheep farmers expect at least the same income they made in 2022, a figure which falls to 10% for tillage farmers and 8% for dairy.

The dairy and tillage sectors are those where farmers are expecting the most severe declines in income too – 56% and 43% of farmers in these sectors, respectively, are anticipating an income hit of more than 20%.