Farmers have been advised to buy fertiliser as they need it by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) Dairy Committee chair.
Stephen Arthur told a meeting organised by the Kerry IFA Dairy Chair Michael O’Dowd in Tralee last night (Wednesday, February 2) that the majority of calls he is getting from farmers are about fertiliser.
The Wicklow man said that the current high prices were causing “a lot of anxiety” and farmers were “getting themselves into knots over trying to buys loads of fertiliser”.
Arthur said that co-ops around the country had reassured him that there would be adequate fertiliser supplies.
“Buy it as you need it. Don’t be buying lorry loads of fertiliser. Slowly do it, don’t throw out €20,000 for a load of fertiliser.
“We’re advising if you’ve 100ac of ground to cover with your first run, 3t of urea will get you going on that. Then buy another 3t in the following couple of months and that will get you to May,” the IFA chair commented.
Arthur noted that dairy markets were “flying” and felt that milk prices would help cover fertiliser costs.
However, he stressed that rising input costs were “a serious fear going forward”, and added that it was up to every farmer to work on their own economics.
Arthur urged farmers to manage their cash flows and advised them not to use all their credit on fertiliser in case extra feed may be needed if spring weather conditions are poor.
“Don’t panic, keep her calm. Buy what you need, when you need it,” Arthur advised.
Fertiliser price
Meanwhile, James O’Connell, general manager of Kerry Agribusiness, told the meeting that global dairy prices are increasing as supply is not there to meet demand.
He said that “the outlook on milk price is positive for the coming months, we expect that milk price will increase further”.
“Can I say that in six months it will be positive? I can’t say that for definite, I don’t have a crystal ball. It would be a fair man that would be predicting the dairy market out beyond six months, or even three months,” he added.
In terms of farm inputs, O’Connell said that Kerry Agribusiness had bought 50% of its fertiliser requirement for the year and it does not currently foresee any shortage in supply.
The company is encouraging customers to cover their fertiliser requirements up to and including the first cut of silage.
He said that fertiliser prices are being reviewed weekly by the company.
O’Connell said that they are fairly confident that prices will remain stable until the end of February, however, this did not include urea.
The Kerry Agribusiness manager said that feed prices are expected to remain unchanged for the next two months.