A rescue package for tillage farmers must match the “scale of disaster” faced by farmers in the sector, according to the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA).
The association has proposed that a payment of €250/ha up to a maximum of 40ha should be made to the farmers who have not been able to harvest their crops and had to leave unharvested crops as wild bird cover until the middle of March.
The ICSA has also proposed that farmers should be paid €200/ha up to a maximum of 50ha for farmers who struggled to harvest spring crops and that winter cereal growers should be eligible for €150/ha, again to a maximum of 50ha.
ICSA Tillage chair, Gavin Carberry said: “The announcement of a payment of €11/ac was not a serious response in a year where crops were left in the ground and are still there.
“Many other farmers managed to get crops out but with serious hardship and impact on the quality of grain and straw.
“I am very concerned at the impact on farmers who are looking at their whole year’s work gone for nothing.”
He added that a rescue package needs to “respect the scale of the disaster” and that is why there is a proposal of set payments by the ICSA, worth up to €250/ha, to a maximum €10,000 per farmer.
“The impact is also being felt in terms of the serious lack of quality straw which is going to have deep ramifications for animal welfare at calving time.
“It is also hugely problematic in terms of our strategy to grow the organic sector given the need for farmyard manure rather than slurry,” he added.
Carberry referenced that the government has a stated strategy of increasing the country’s tillage area for climate reasons and to reduce dependence on imported produce.
The ICSA Tillage chair said that if the government is “serious about this”, then it must match it with action not just “empty words”.