Regional meetings to discuss farm finance and budgeting will be held in the coming weeks by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), due to what it described as “significant cashflow pressures”.
The first meeting will take place this evening (Thursday, August 29) in Cork Marts, Corrin, Fermoy, Co. Cork at 8:00p.m.
IFA president Francie Gorman said that farmers in all sectors have experienced “difficult trading conditions” in the past 12 months, with higher input prices and reduced output margins.
“The combined effect of higher costs and challenging weather for the last 12 months has had a massively negative impact on cashflow for farmers.
“Additional feed has had to be used throughout the year to compensate for poor grass growth and difficult grazing conditions,” Gorman said.
The other meetings will be held in the following locations:
- Newpark Hotel, Co. Kilkenny on September 2;
- Bloomfield House Hotel, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath on September 9;
- McWilliam Park Hotel, Claremorris, Co. Mayo on September 11.
IFA farm business chair Bill O’Keeffe said that Teagasc and financial institutions have been invited to discuss how farmers should prepare their business for the months ahead.
“We will have a Teagasc specialist on managing winter fodder. The focus will be on the importance of early feed budgeting for winter 2024/2025 and knowing your farm demand and managing in advance of any potential deficit,” O’Keefe said.
AIB, Bank of Ireland, PTSB and the credit unions will each give a brief presentation on what is available for farmers with cashflow difficulties.
There will be particular attention give to farmers who want to transfer merchant or co-op and contractor debt into structured bank credit.
A panel discussion will take place at each meeting, followed by a question and answer session for farmers to participate in at the end.