Agricultural Crises: ee Farmer Alliance?

cushion the effects of the recession and provided stimulus for a general economic recovery. Ouring the 179-'80 recession, the decline in agriculutre has been much more prolonged and its effects on the rest of the ecoiomy more severe.

With a decline of 45% in agricultural income over the past two years consumer spending has been severely hit with predictable consequences for employment. Unemployment will also follow from the decline in agricultural investment, Dairy farming — a high investment sector — is particularly badly hit, registering the lowest (and possibly negative) growth rates ina decade. Not surprisingly, the demand for machinery, building materials, cereals, fertilisers, antibiotics has gone down. Asa result the farm building industry has experienced widespread | ayoffs; the agricultural machinery industry hasbeen blitzed with long-established firms, Pearce of Wexford and Saville's of Santry, folding altogether; over half the grain and agricultural merchant firms in the country are in severe trouble. In addition, the agricultural processing industry (which employs a quarter of the industrial labour force) is being squeezed, At the level of Ireland's relations to the international capitalist economy, even more serious problems are looming. Paradoxically, ata time when agricultural production is collapsing, exports are booming.

The extra sales are not coming from reproduction but from de-stock ing - farmers are selling off the Stock they should have kept for next year's production. Cow Slauyhtering is up by nearly a quarter; the beef cow herd is down by a third and calf heifers are down by 1S. It will take at least two year’s to get back up to the 1979 level of production and for next year, a major collapse in agricultural exports is inevitable. Ireland will find itself seriously indebted to other countries as a result. This will mean more foreign borrowing and/or further cuts in state expenditure. Either way it will be mainly the PAYE sector that will foot the bill.

The agricultural crisis clearly affects the interests of workers directly. Yet the trade union movement has no policy on the crisis. The stage has been left free for the big farming organisations whose proposals amount to solving the crisis at the expense of workers and small farmers -— lower taxes, rates and wages compined with higher prices, subsidies and farm rationalisation. Such a package is contrary to workers! interests because they would be the ones to pay for it.

it is important for the trade union movement to advance its Own programme to solve the agricultural crisis. The key to this is to break agriculture reliance on meat and dairy production. This form of farming has resulted in:

a) Widespread under-utili sation of land. Because cattle rearing is not possible on smal! holdings, about one third of Irish farms have experienced no growth over a prolonged period of time.

farmers, products, b) Super exploitation of smal!

Smal! farmers are restricted to the relatively unrewardinsg area of producing young cattle which are later fattened and sold by the big farmers. Working hand in glove with the big farmers, the government has systematically encouraged the over-production of young cattle to keep their prices ming down and thereby maximise the advantage to the big farmers.

c) Vast subsidies to agricultural incomes. About one third of income arising in agriculture comes from industry government subsidies. This is the price the Irish tax payer (ie the workers, Irish worker) has to pay to maintain a backward agricultural system which benefits only the big farmers.

d) Restriction of the food processing industry. About a quarter of the manufacturing labour force is engaged in food processing. But the structure of agriculture severely timits the development of this sector of manufacture. Regular cycles of crisis (every 3-3 years - caused mainly by the government's and big farmers! encouragement of over-production of young cattle) precipitates regular shortages of on it. inputs. This has deprived the food processing industry of the longBe) Enslavement of the smal! farmers to the banks. The impoverished smal! farms can carry on production only by indebting themselves to financial institutions. Their interest repayments are normally much higher than those of industry because they can usually only afford short term loans.

The alternative to this system of agriculture must be based on a diversification of agricultural production and expansion of the domestic market. At the moment, 90% of agricultural land is under grass and 75% of agricultural output is exported directly. Greater emphasis must be placed on the development of tillage. Since Irelandis already a net importer of tillage products, a market already exists for this kind of farming. This market can be developed further by redirecting agricultural subsidies away from big farmers and nationalising the banks in order to:

1) develop co-operative smal! far2) turn the large farms into state-run farms under the contro! of the workers and their unions 3)develop the food processing 4) subsidise the price of food to To wage a realistic fight for such a programme - which is an indispensable element for the socialist reconstruction of the Irish economy - a Class alliance petween workers and smal! farmers is indispensable, The trade union movement must challenge the right of the big farming organisations (IFA and 1CMS5A) to speak for all farmers. The unions must encourage the smal! farms to organise for themselves and must give every assistance to them. The interests of Irish workers depend BRENOAN KELLY

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC PAGE 3