Minister for Agriculture, Food & the Marine Charlie McConalogue is considering an option of making Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) scheme payments while removing the requirement to incorporate straw.
Minister McConalogue said today (Saturday, July 20) that an option he is considering as a means of achieving the objective of maximising fodder production while ensuring the SIM funding of €10m is retained in the tillage sector this year is to make payments to SIM applicants while removing the obligation to chop and plough in straw.
This would mean the straw remains available for sale and for winter fodder. The minister intends to discuss this option with farm organisations when he meets them on Tuesday, July 23.
Minister McConalogue said: “My objective in not proceeding with the SIM as envisaged is to ensure that we do not pay for straw to be chopped now that we may need to prevent challenges with fodder this coming winter against a backdrop of depleted fodder reserves and poor growth rates so far this year.
“I indicated at the outset my commitment to consult with farm representatives and stakeholders on this proposal along with a commitment to ensuring that the €10m allocated for this measure stays within the tillage sector.
“I look forward to constructive engagements on this in meetings with farm representatives this week,” he added.
On Wednesday, July 17, Minister McConalogue announced his intention to seek a deferral of the 2024 SIM from the European Commission.
Both Ministers of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon and Pippa Hackett have expressed their dissatisfaction at such a decision and its impact on tillage farmers.
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) and the Irish Grain Growers’ Group (IGGG) have issued a joint call for the reversal of a decision to suspend the SIM and have urged the Taoiseach to intervene if necessary.
Many other elected representatives have also called on the agriculture minister to reverse his decision, however speaking to Agriland this week, the minister said that everyone was entitled to their views on the matter.
He added that fodder and bedding could face a winter shortage if he didn’t take action now to ensure enough of a supply.
“But as minister I have a responsibility to prepare for the winter ahead and to make sure the sector is in a strong, resilient position,” Minister McConalogue had told Agriland.
“We’ve come out of the longest winter we have experienced in many years; seven months basically where animals were housed and it depleted reserves,” the minister added.