Since taking over the business in 2013, David Conly from Agri Contractors in Ballybay, Co. Monaghan has noticed costs of machinery “going through the roof”, with little change to rates of pay.
Conly gave some examples of these costs, such as the rising price of diesel.
According to the AA, diesel prices in August 2013 stood at an average of €1.50/L, while in August 2023, the average price was €1.75/L.
Conly said from his own experience, he has seen self propelled harvesters gone up in price by about €45,000 in the last two to three years.
He said he has seen segment mowers rise in price by about €7,500, and typical slurry tanks up about €20,000 from when the business began in 2013.
He added that silage trailers have risen by about €8,500 since 2020, and that loading shovels were “badly impacted”, costing about €35,000 more than a few years ago.
“We’re at the point now when we are due to change machinery, and because of the costs we’re thinking can we do it? It’s just too expensive to keep up,” Conly said.
It’s not just machinery that is causing the agri contractors to feel the pinch, but also increases in wage payments and difficulty in finding trained staff, according to Conly.
“Firstly I’d like to see the farmers paid more for what they’re doing, and would like to see the government looking at subsidising machinery costs,” Conly said.
The business owner said that delayed payments from government to farmers is causing “huge effects”.
“We find that we’ve had very little correspondence from farmers that have been waiting on the single farm payment compared to other years,” Conly said.
Farm contractors
“You hear a lot about the farmer’s despair in the media, but not so much about the contractors,” he added.
He said that the Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI) must be “asleep at the moment”, due to their “lack of support”.
FCI national chair, John Hughes said that 2023 has been “a difficult one” for agricultural contractors, due to prolonged periods of wet weather.
He said that the association’s own yard in Kilkenny recorded a 29% increase in rainfall levels for the first ten months of 2023 compared with the same period in 2002, resulting in higher operating costs and reduced profitability.
“Investment costs in modern agricultural machinery are high, while the output potentials with improved efficiencies can be enhanced but only if the weather conditions allow,” Hughes said.
“Most farmers understand the cost price squeeze that faces agricultural contractors in Ireland. There is a clear understanding now that contractors must be paid and must be profitable in order to stay in business and stay driving farm output levels.
“More and more farmers are adopting stage payments for their contractor services, with the level of online payments to contractors at its highest ever level now,” he added.
Hughes said that farmers and their advisors need to work with agricultural contractors to develop “practical payment strategies”.
“These strategies can work for both parties, to reduce farm debt. With current high interest rates agricultural contractors cannot sustain the cost of high farm debt due to late payments,” Hughes said.