An Oireachtas committee has heard a claim that agricultural contractors will get more scarce in the next five to eight years due to pressures on the sector.
The Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine discussed the Nitrates Action Programme (NAP) and the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) on Wednesday evening (January 26).
Representatives from the Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors of Ireland (FCI) told the committee that contractors are currently excluded from applying for grant aid through the Low Emission Slurry Spreading (LESS) Equipment Scheme.
CEO of the group, Michael Moroney, claimed that other EU countries have facilitated contractors to get such grant aid. He said that Irish contractors had previously been eligible for such schemes.
It is the FCI’s understanding that it was the Irish government’s choice not to include support for contractors under Article 19 of the Irish Rural Development Programme.
Pressure on contractors
Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice, who is a contractor himself, said that if half of FCI members are not eligible for grant aid, it would mean that up to 40,000 farmers would not have access to a LESS system, unless they bought it themselves.
The independent Roscommon-Galway TD envisaged that with new regulations due in 2025 some contractors will not be on the road if they cannot avail of a grant system.
“A lot of contractors are looking to see if they would be better to go to the building sector because they cannot sustain what is going on,” Fitzmaurice said.
Due to the rising price of diesel, being excluded from LESS grant aid, the increasing cost of machinery and the carbon tax, the TD believed that contractors would get more scarce within the next 5-8 years.
Michael Moroney agreed with that assessment and added that when in-person FCI meetings were held prior to the Covid-19 pandemic they were “always concerned by the number of grey heads in the room”.
He said that due to costs and a lack of labour some contractors are contemplating on giving up.
Moroney said there is also concern about the future for contractors across Europe but it is more significant in Ireland because costs seem to be higher here.
He said FCI members had got quotes of 94c/L for diesel and warned of the “frightening prospect” that prices could go up to €1.50c/L due to “international issues over which we have no control”.
“In that scenario, it is just not sustainable to run a contracting business and provide a service for farmers,” Moroney said.
“We are the hidden asset of Irish agriculture. Nobody wants to consider the role of the contractor. It’s like we are invisible in the room. Well we are not, we are doing the work.
“Agriculture cannot survive and will not survive without the role of farm and forestry contractors,” the FCI CEO stated.
Moroney called for a central register to be established for contractors in the country so the industry could develop and provide training.
The next generation
John Hughes, chair of the FCI, told the committee that diesel is just one of many issues piled up against agricultural contractors.
“Just take the carbon tax alone; that is a tax on food production. The farmer can get the carbon tax rebate on that section of the fuel but we, as professionals, can’t.
“It’s death by a thousand cuts, but we are running into the nine hundreds at the moment. It’s not too far off when we will get to a thousand,” he said.
Hughes outlined that his company is marking 74 years in business this year but the next generation do not want to take over.
“They don’t want it because there are alternatives that are cleaner, nicer and pay better. So why would you want it? We need to build an industry that people want to get involved in,” the contractor said.
Hughes said that the development of training courses and a focus on apprenticeships by the government is welcome, however, he was worried it may be too late for the industry.