Tillage farmers are facing “mental and financial strain” due to what the Irish Grain Growers’ Group (IGGG) has described as a “brutal” harvest season.
The organisation has said that morale among tillage farmers is low due to “the ongoing onslaught of rain”.
“This whole growing season has been a struggle since last October, with weather going from one extreme to another,” the IGGG said.
“The record wet July has compounded the situation with many questioning their plans going forward. Combines are now getting stuck in fields, straw lies on the ground for up to a month now on many farms.”
The group added: “The yield and quality of grain is hitting the bottom line hard now. Many are facing into the red for the year, especially on rented ground.”
The IGGG also said that the difficult financial situation for tillage farmers has been compounded by changes in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which, the group claims, has seen tillage farmers lose out.
The group also highlighted what it called the Nitrates Derogation “debacle”, which it said is a “situation not created by the tillage sector, yet its impact is undermining our viability and the very existence of many tillage farmers going forward”.
“What we consider token measures that tillage farmers are obliged to take are being put forward to the EU by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to make a case to hold on to the derogation to benefit a minority of the livestock farmers in Ireland.
“Last year’s post-harvest cultivation measures that were signed off by government are such an example. Its impact on achieving results, we believe, will be minimal, yet it may be used as a case to try hold on to the derogation, because it will be seen as an effort by the government to improve water quality,” the IGGG claimed.
According to the IGGG, the idea of a financially supported scheme has been floated that would provide for tillage farmers to take in organic manure from livestock farms.
The organisation questioned the need for such a scheme, saying that the trade of slurry and farmyard manure already takes place, and that livestock farmers can avail of grant aid under the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) for slurry storage and sustainable spreading equipment.
“We do have to wonder what’s the reasoning behind this new idea and will it even help impact on increasing the tillage area,” it said.
“Where is the financial modelling to prove such support is necessary for the tillage sector?”
The IGGG claimed that such a scheme, if it came to pass, would potentially be “another measure to make a case with as regards the Nitrates Derogation from [the department] to the EU”.
“Why wasn’t there financial support for tillage farmers cultivating post harvest and yet there is talk of a budget for exporting slurry. Surely the vision for the tillage should focus elsewhere?” the IGGG said.