The Irish government has ‘lumped’ tillage farmers in with criminal gangs, from a surveillance point of view, according to a committee member of the Irish Grain Growers’ Group (IGGG).

Ollie Whyte made the comments while addressing an IGGG regional meeting, held in north Co. Dublin last night (Monday, January 9).

“Farms are now subject to 24/7 satellite coverage. This is a ridiculous situation,” he told those gathered.

“Government does not understand the complexities of tillage farming. IGGG is already playing a key role in changing this perspective.

“This is because we are an organisation that has been established to support the specific needs of farmers growing arable crops.”

Tillage farmers

IGGG was established in 2018. It is now an officially recognised by government as a stakeholder organisation.

The organisation’s chairman, Bobby Miller, also addressed the Dublin meeting. He said that IGGG had already made a real difference on behalf of tillage farmers.

“We were the organisation that put forward the initial proposals linked to the introduction of a straw incorporation measure,” he explained.

IGGG is also claiming responsibility for the decision to include combi-crops within the Protein Aid Scheme.

A key part of IGGG’s brief will be to communicate the key role played by tillage farms in delivering food security for Irish consumers.

To this end, the organisation wants Bord Bia to take on the role of promoting and marketing Irish grain and other arable crops.

Sustainability

A key driver for IGGG is the need to communicate the fact that the tillage sector has already achieved a ‘net zero’ carbon status, to all intents and purposes.

“We are 27 years ahead of all the other farming sectors in this regard,” Ollie Whyte stressed.   

IGGG buys-in to the generally agreed objective of expanding the tillage sector in Ireland. But its committee members wonder how this can be achieved given the pressures that now confront the sector.

“The new Common Agricultural Policy [CAP] had a devastating impact on the tillage sector. It has already been officially confirmed that farmers growing crops will lose out by a factor of 35% regarding the future value of their entitlements,” Bobby Miller added.

“We need government to respond positively to this evolving situation.

“The introduction of the new nitrates regulations and the public consultation on the new sustainable use regulation will also constitute major challenges for the tillage sector.

“IGG will be interacting very positively with government on these and other matters,” he concluded.