A Kilkenny man is to run for the presidency of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA ) later this year.
John Bryan, the chairman of the Kilkenny County Executive of the IFA, declared his candidacy for the contest at a well attended function at the weekend .
Close to 300 supporters gathered at Cillin Hill on Saturday night to hear the Inistioge man confirm his intention to seek the IFA’s highest office.
The delighted attendance also heard a riveting motivational speech from Kilkenny senior hurling manager, Brian Cody, who wished Bryan well in his bid for the IFA presidency.
Bryan is a livestock farmer from Cappagh, Inistioge. He served as chairman of the IFA’s national livestock committee from 2004 to 2008. As national livestock chairman, he campaigned vigourously for better prices for livestock farmers.
With Justin McCarthy of the Irish Farmers’ Journal, he twice travelled to Brazil to highlight the lack of standards applied to beef producers there, compared with the rigourous standards regime enforced in all EU states, including Ireland. This campaign led the EU Commission to severely restrict the import of beef from Brazil, a decision that helped to underpin beef prices in Ireland.
Consistent with his commitment to the highest standards, John Bryan came up with the idea of a scheme to improve the welfare of the Irish suckler herd. After much difficult negotiation, the Suckler Cow Welfare Scheme came into operation at the beginning of 2008.
As well as boosting the income of suckler cow farmers, the scheme is already widely credited as helping to improve breeding and welfare standards in the suckler herd. John Bryan is married to Rena. They have two children, Cathy and James.
If elected, John Bryan would be the first Kilkenny man to lead the country’s largest farming organisation. The election for the IFA presidency will take place across 940 branches of the association during late November and early December of this year. The winner will succeed current president, Padraig Walshe at the association’s AGM in January 2010
