Representatives of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) grain committee will meet a Boortmalt delegation on Thursday morning (August 17) to discuss the impact of the 2023 harvest on malting quality.
IFA grain committee chairman, Kieran McEvoy, commented: “We have known for some time that this year’s harvest would throw up challenges for malting barley growers.
“In light of this, we will be asking Boortmalt to consider tweaking the quality criteria, where current barley intakes are concerned.
“This should be possible where protein and kph [kilogrammes per hectolitre] values are concerned. Our aim is to maximise the number of growers producing eligible crops at the present time.”
Harvest
Turning to other matters, McEvoy confirmed the absolute importance of farmers getting the harvest completed in the most efficient manner possible.
“The priorities are very clear,” he stressed.
“It’s a case of getting grain harvested, straw baled and bills paid. From what I can gather yields are down by around a tonne to the acre, year-on-year.
“The winter barley and rape harvests are now complete. Now it’s a case of pushing on with oat, wheat and spring barley crops,” he added.
“The weather continues to make life difficult. This has added to the continuous challenge now facing tillage farmers of chasing high yields relative to their inputs costs.”
According to McEvoy, a full meeting of the IFA’s grain committee will be held at the beginning of September.
“This will give us an opportunity to review the outcome of the 203 harvest in some detail,” he commented.
“If required, we will go to government and the merchants seeking a support package for tillage farmers. But first and foremost, it’s a case of keeping matters under review.”
McEvoy confirmed that agriculture minister, Charlie McConalogue, has received an internal document from the Food Vision Tillage Group.
“I am expecting a response back from the minister before this year’s ploughing match,” he continued.
The IFA representative would not be drawn on the detail of the recommendations sent to the minister.
However, he said he recognises the need for all farmers to be placed on an equal footing when it comes to leasing land.
Significantly, he does not foresee the introduction of acreage payments to tillage farmers ‘cutting the mustard’ in this regard.
Rather, he views the need to use arable land more effectively, from a slurry spreading perspective, as key to implementing the new nitrates regulations in a fair and equitable manner.