The additional support needs of tillage farmers will be top of the agenda when representatives of the Irish Grain Growers’ Group (IGGG) meet with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine within the next fortnight.
According to IGGG chair, Bobby Miller, the key purpose of the meeting will be to discuss the out-workings of the Food Vision Tillage Group and the supports that tillage farmers need at this time.
“The general mood within the tillage sector is extremely low at the present time. I have never known it to be so bad in my lifetime.”
He said that in his own case he has most of the ground ear marked for spring crops ploughed.
However, the weather has prevented any actual planting from taking place up to this point.
“The plan is to get crops of malting barley and spring oats into the ground as soon as the weather permits.
“It was my intention to get 80ac of winter crops drilled last back end. I came up 13ac short.
“The winter cereals look pretty patchy in places. A specific issue arose in an area of winter oilseed rape.
“However, the plan is to get spring beans planted in those places where the rape had suffered badly, ” Miller added.
Tillage farmers
According to the IGGG chair, the recommendations contained within the final Tillage Vision Report “will not impact on farming businesses this year”.
He said the organisation has called for an €80 million support package to be made available by government in order to meet the specific needs of grain growers at the present time.
According to Miller, this request was a made at a recent meeting of the stakeholder group that has been drawn together to develop the Vision Group report.
“This was a followed-up with a similar request being made at last week’s fodder security meeting,” he added.
Miller expects the final version of the Tillage Vision Group report will be delivered to Minister Charlie McConalogue next week.
He said: “It has been tweaked in a number of recent days.
“However, it is now incumbent on the minister to act on its recommendations. The report must not be allowed to gather dust.”
The IGGG chair wants to see the stakeholder group, which was established at the outset of the tillage review process, to be maintained.
“Looking ahead, the role of the stakeholder group is to ensure that the specification recommendations contained in the final report are physically acted upon by government.
“If this approach is not taken, the impetus generated by the publication of the report could be lost,” he warned.