It’s now obvious that last autumn’s heavy rains have dealt a hammer blow to many Irish cereal growers, who planted out winter crops prior to the deluge.
Teagasc is advising growers to walk all of their winter drops right now. So, it’s safe to predict that stories of disastrous crop establishment rates will come to the fore over the coming days.
Most of 2022 saw farming experts and stakeholder organisations stressing the importance of Ireland’s tillage sector. Indeed, the need to expand the industry has been identified by many people, including Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue.
Cereal growers
Last year the agriculture minister further committed to the Protein Aid Scheme, while also introducing a new measure – the Tillage Incentive Scheme. Both measures have been rolled over into 2023.
So much for the good news; the not so good news is that tillage farmers – and there may well be hundreds of them – are looking at the prospect of total crop failures, where last year’s winter wheat and barley crops are concerned.
The only real option that now faces them is that of starting again and going-in with a spring crop.
This will come at a real price to growers, particularly if one fully factors-in the costs associated with planting-out the previous winter cropping option.
All of this madness was caused by factors totally outside of farmers’ control. And given the aforementioned commentary on the importance of Ireland’s tillage sector, the need for government to act is obvious.
Government support
Charlie Mc Conalogue justified the Tillage Incentive Scheme on food security grounds. So, I sense that him agreeing some form of planting grant support measure now for growers facing the ravages of total crop failures on the back of last autumn’s heavy rains could be similarly ‘defended’.
All of this is pretty hypothetical stuff. What’s needed is an accurate survey of the actual damage caused by last autumn’s floods.
This should be a priority task for the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) and the Irish Grain Growers’ Group (IGGG).
A survey of their members could quickly provide for an accurate estimate of the total bill facing tillage farmers across the country right now.
I get the impression the final figure arrived at could be a scary one.
It’s then up to the farm minister to act. This assumes, of course that the government is fully committed to the retention of a sustainable tillage sector in Ireland.