Sinn Féin spokesperson for agriculture, Claire Kerrane TD, has written to Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, urging him to engage with grain growers and tillage farmers regarding concerns around a decline in tillage land coverage.
According to the Roscommon Galway TD, concerns have been raised that tillage coverage will reduce by up to 20,000ha of land in 2023.
“I have been contacted by tillage farmers and grain growers who are very worried by reports that land covered by tillage is set to drop, not increase this year,” Deputy Kerrane said.
“This is at a time when [the] government has set a target of reaching 400,000ha of tillage coverage by 2030. This suggests a move in the wrong direction regarding tillage targets, which is concerning.
“I appreciate there are a range of measures in place to support the tillage sector, but these figures suggest there are other factors which are seeing a reduction in hectares covered, not an increased as intended,” she stated.
The Sinn Féin deputy said that it is crucial that the insights and experiences of tillage farmers are taken on board as part of efforts to boost the sector sector through the Food Vision Tillage Group.
“I have written to Minister McConalogue to highlight these concerns and urge him to engage directly with representative groups, such as the Irish Grain Growers’ [Group].
“It is important this decline does not become a trend and that we can meet our 2030 targets.”
Tillage prospects
Earlier this week, Teagasc predicted that there will be a 13% fall in Ireland’s cereal output for 2023.
The harvest estimate published by Teagasc predicts total cereal production in Ireland will be 2.1 million tonnes in 2023. This represents a decrease of 300,000t (-13%) when compared to 2022.
Estimated crop yields by Teagasc advisors indicate that crop yields for harvest 2023 will be close to the five-year averages.
The one exception to this is spring barley, where advisors expect that yields in 2023 will be significantly below the five-year average.
Teagasc also estimates that 45% of this year’s spring barley was sown late, from mid-April onwards due to wet weather, and yield expectations in these crops are low, with some crops struggling to reach a potential 5t/ha.