An Oireachtas committee will write to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue urging him to investigate what the committee chairperson has called a “cartel” in the fertiliser sector.
Speaking at a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine last week, Fianna Fáil TD Jackie Cahill said the committee will call on Minister McConalogue to look into the prices that are being paid by farmers for fertiliser.
At the end of the meeting, which heard from the country’s leading farm organisations on the issue, Cahill said: “In my view I think it’s clearly obvious that a cartel is operating here.
“I’ve watched fertiliser prices for a good few years at this stage. When milk prices were on the up, fertiliser prices all went on the up. The war in Ukraine obviously exacerbated the situation.
“Definitely, the price at which we can purchase fertiliser in this country at the moment is out of kilter,” he added.
The committee does not itself have the power to investigate this issue. However, Cahill called on the minister to step in.
“While we haven’t the power here in a committee to launch an investigation into it, as a committee we will write to the minister and urge him to have an investigation into the prices that are being paid, and what the raw material is costing farmers,” the Tipperary TD said.
His comments came at the end of a committee meeting that saw the major farming organisations outline the fertiliser price challenge for farmers.
Addressing the committee, Irish Farmers Association (IFA) deputy president Brian Rushe said the high cost of fertiliser in Ireland “is coming at a detrimental cost to Irish farmers’ livelihoods”.
He said that prices around Europe continue to decrease, with an almost 60% fall in prices between the peaks of 2022 and March 2023, but in Ireland prices have only reduced by a fraction.
According to the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA), there continues to be a “considerable variation in prices” between various suppliers across the country.
The ICSA has also warned that one key factor which continues to dominate price differentials in relation to fertiliser is location.
“The difference has been striking, with Munster farmers paying more than €100/t more, on average, than farmers near the border, where importing fertiliser is more feasible and cost effective,” the farm organisation told the committee.
According to the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) meanwhile, there now needs to be “an immediate and thorough investigation” by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) into fertiliser prices in Ireland.
The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) told the committee that it was concerned that there could be a knock-on effect from some farmers who may have delayed applying fertiliser in the hope that prices would fall.
It fears this “could undermine forage yields” and have a knock-on effect into next year.
Minister McConalogue has previously said that he does not intend to formally investigate the fertiliser price issue.
He told Agriland in March that fertiliser prices are “outside” of his control as minister. He said it is a “market issue”.
“It’s important that farmers do plan and prepare in that regard. We want to see market returns being returned to farmers [but] it is something that is outside of my control as minister [and] there is no point in saying anything else,” the minister stated.