The Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh, yesterday accused some farm leaders of "talking down" the industry as the dispute continued between his Department and farming organisations over farm incomes.
Mr Walsh, who was presenting his annual review and outlook, said that while he was disappointed this year's farm incomes would show a drop of 8.5 per cent, the figures were not as high as some farm organisations were claiming.
Earlier this year, he said, there had been claims that income would drop by well over 20 per cent but that had not happened.
Now, despite the fact that the CSO figure of 8.5 per cent allowed for inflation, it was being claimed it was a drop of 14 per cent by those wrongly adding on an inflation figure.
He said he was worried that this "talking down of the industry" would have the impact of making it less attractive for young people.
He said farming was a cyclical business and he was disappointed at the drop in income following two good years in farming and he hoped it would improve this year.
"In addition, the fact that over 60 per cent of farmers have off-farm sources of income cannot be left out of the equation," he told journalists.
On animal diseases, Mr Walsh defended the increased levies for bovine TB on farmers and said the TB situation had improved this year, with 30,000 reactors disclosed compared with 33,700 in the previous year and 45,000 in 1998 and 1999.
"The eradication schemes have succeeded in maintaining 99.5 per cent of cattle free from TB and brucellosis," he said.
He admitted that while brucellosis levels in cattle had declined over the year, there was a significant residual level remaining in the national herd.
Aggressive depopulation and extended rest-period policies would continue to be applied.
On BSE, the Minister said it was expected that case numbers will decline significantly from 2003 onwards.
He noted the decline in the beef kill over the year and said sheep production was expected to fall again in the coming year.
He said he accepted it had been a difficult year in dairying and revealed he had commissioned a major study of the dairy processing sector with Enterprise Ireland, which would be ready in early 2003.
The Minister said the mid-term CAP review and the world trade negotiations would be his priorities in the coming year.