A campaign hopes to persuade Irish dairy farmers to relocate to South Dakota in the USA.
The initiative was devised to support an expanding cheese industry in the state of South Dakota.
Known for its cowboys and buffalo plains South Dakota covers an area twice the size of Ireland but has a population of 755,000 people.
There is a huge shortage of dairy farmers to supply its major dairy industries.
South Dakato state authorities have embarked on a recruitment campaign in Ireland to entice dairy farmers to relocate. Representatives of the American Department of Agriculture are on a three day tour visiting farmers in Limerick, Cork, and Athlone to try and convince them to establish new dairy enterprises in the US.
Joop Bollen, South Dakota Business Institute, explains their reasons for coming to Ireland. The largest cheese plant in the state is currently being set up and there is a shortage of around 65,000 cows.
We would like to attract more dairy farmers.
Fourteen farmers from the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK have already decided to make the move to South Dakota. Farmers James Aislby and Julie Scanlon used to farm in Manchester but saw no future in dairy farming there. James Aislby says the EU quotas were having a negative impact on their business. For Julie Scanlon the decision to move was not easy but was one that they have made for their business.
Tom McNamara, a farmer from Charleville, says that the proposition might be an attractive one for a young farmer. However, Rob Fennessy, a young farmer from Arndacrusha, is not sure he would be interested in making the move given the huge financial investment required.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 19 August 2003. The reporter is Cathy Halloran.
