Irish Grain Growers (IGG) group chairman Bobby Miller has said that he supports the principle of forward selling malting barley.
“It’s an insurance option for farmers,” he told Agriland.
“Under the scheme activated by Boortmalt over the past couple of years, growers had the option of committing up to 40% of their crops in this way prior to final harvest.”
According to the Co. Laois man, grain prices usually hit their lowest point at harvest.
“Granted, that was not the way events unfolded in 2022. World grain prices took off in the wake of the Ukraine war,” he added.
“As a consequence, the two forward selling options on offer from Boortmalt in the autumn of 2021 and the following spring bore no relevance to the very strong barley prices subsequently available at harvest.
“But the principle of forward selling grain remains a very strong one.”
Crop insurance
Miller is equally supportive of crop insurance as a means of delivering greater certainty for Irish tillage farmers.
“More merchants should be offering crop insurance to growers,” he stressed.
“It’s an approach to business that works very well in the United States.
“I know this can be quite complicated issue. However, the bottom line is that the application of a fungicide or some other agro-chemical can be regarded as a form of insurance policy when it comes to getting a crop through to harvest,” he explained.
Barley
Turning to developments on his own farm, Miller confirmed that winter barley crops are looking well.
“I am very aware this is not the case in other parts of the country. It’s too early to tell if BYDV [Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus] will be an issue for me this time around; it certainly was last year,” Miller said.
“There were some aphids on the barley a few weeks ago. To be honest, I am not a fan of applying an insecticide to any cereal crop. So, I took the decision not to spray.
Miller planted winter oilseed rape at the very end of August.
“Establishment was very patchy,” he confirmed.
“The crop went into very dry seed bed. But there has been tremendous compensatory growth over recent weeks.
“The weather caught me out badly towards the end of October. The plan was to sow out a crop of winter oats at that stage. However, the rains came and ground conditions deteriorated badly,” he added.
“Planting wasn’t possible then. But spring oats are an option in the same ground next year. So, it’s not the end of the world. Spring beans will also be planted out in 2023.”