Teagasc has indicated to Agriland that the organisation was not asked to carry out a survey of harvest damage in the back end of last year.
What we did last autumn off our own bat was to ask our advisors to give us an estimate of how many farmers they had that still had crops to cut and an indication of the scale of what was left to be cut, a spokesperson said.
“This would have been part of a routine work planning exercise so we could assess whether we needed to allocate advisory time to assist people in trouble.
“The weather improved shortly after that assessment so at least farmers got the crops harvested then.”
Meanwhile, Fianna Fail Agriculture Spokesman Charlie McConalogue said that he expects the issue of a tillage crisis fund to be discussed at the next get-together of the Tillage Forum.
“This meeting will take place in the very near future. The total compensation figure of €4.5m was one garnered by the IFA, courtesy of a survey carried out of its affected members last autumn.
“I am also aware of the work put in by Teagasc staff with affected farmers at that time.”
McConalogue believes that the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed, must agree to the establishment of the tillage crisis fund.
Assuming this is agreed, it will be up to affected farmers to supply all relevant information, confirming that they lost 25% or more of their cereal crops in 2016.
“And the work put in by Teagasc advisors with the growers in question can be brought to bear in this regard.”
Minister Creed has confirmed that the next meeting of the Tillage Forum will take place on Thursday, February 16, saying that it will provide an opportunity for all to work together to evaluate further measures for the long term sustainability of the tillage sector.