The Irish Grain Growers Group (IGGG) will host a series of regional meetings in January. These will include the 2025 annual meeting of the organisation.
IGGG chair, Bobby Miller commented: “Our first regional meeting takes place in the Riverbank Hotel, Enniscorthy on Thursday, January 9.
“There will be a presentation on the new Kavanagh flour milling project, planned for Ballycarney in Co. Wexford. The new plant will use wheat grown by local farmers.
“Teagasc’s Neilus Noonan will also be in attendance, to discuss the farming for water programme.
“Eoin McDonald, from Cooladine Farms will give an update on the sate of winter crops and what to expect for the year ahead. The meeting will also provide farmers in attendance with the opportunity to raise any tillage related issue from the floor.”
IGGG’s north-east regional meeting will follow on Tuesday, January 14. The venue for this event will be Donegan’s of Monasterboice.
Miller has confirmed that the membership of IGGG continues to expand.
“IGGG continues to grow. We are the only organisation that is committed to exclusively represent the needs of Irish tillage farmers. The drive to expand our membership continues apace,” he said.
The coming weeks should also see the establishment of a new Irish government. Miller is keen that the new administration will reflect the commitments made to the tillage sector by individual political parties in the run up to the recent general election.
Chief among these is the pledge to commit an additional €60 million per annum to the tillage sector over the coming years.
IGGG
IGGG also views the issue of basic payment convergence as a critically important matter that must be addressed at national level over the coming years.
Meanwhile, winter crops continue to perform well.
The continuing dry and mild weather over the Christmas period has further boosted crop growth.
Where winter barley is concerned, some crops may need a first fertiliser application within a relatively small number of weeks.
If this is the case, growers should have preparations made to ensure the product they need is in the yard, ready for use when required.
Making sure that all PTO covers are in place and ensuring that fertiliser applicators and sprayers are safe to use and accurately calibrated are priorities.