Irish tillage farmers have become increasingly frustrated at the lack of strategic vision coming from government regarding the future direction of their industry.

And, truth be told, they have more than a valid point.

Recent days have seen leading representatives from the Irish Grain Growers' Group (IGGG) expressing their views in terms of what is really going on within tillage at the present time.

Their annoyance centres on a number of fundamental realities.

Firstly, farmers committed to the growing of crops cannot generate sustainable incomes. And, in turn, this is leading to growers leaving the industry or, at the very least, actively considering their futures in it.

But it was all supposed to be so very different. Prior to the last general election, the two main parties in the current government – Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil - each promised an additional €300 million of support for tillage during the lifetime of this Dáil.

This works out at some €60 million per year. But, so far, there has been no indication of these monies being made available to growers in any sense.

And, of course, prior to all of this, we had the publication of the National Climate Action Plan, within which is a commitment to grow Ireland’s tillage sector to 400,000ha by 2030, a mere four years' time.

Currently, the industry is just about treading water in terms of its geographic footprint. However, another bad harvest in 2025 could send the sector into a life support scenario.

Meanwhile, everyone agrees that the tillage industry has an exceptionally low carbon footprint. And, on that basis alone, its future must be ring-fenced and further encouraged.

There are lots of reasons why tillage farmers feel sore about the ways in which they feel politics has failed them.

A case in point is the Food Vision Tillage Group. It was set up by the previous government and seen by many as the 'great white horse', empowered to map out a clear future for arable farming in Ireland.

However, its report has come and gone with no formal response to its recommendations coming from either the current or previous administrations.

And, of course, actions - or lack of them - always speak louder than words.

Recent days have seen Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon chair an international agriculture and climate conference at which he highlighted the need for the development of more sustainable and climate-friendly food production practices into the future.

It all strikes me as the perfect prelude for the minister to now issue his strategic vision for the future of tillage in Ireland.