Additional reporting by Charles O’Donnell
Pig farmers who are protesting outside the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) in Dublin today (Tuesday, March 29) have called for immediate government action to save their sector.
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has organised today’s demonstration at Agriculture House because of the ongoing financial crisis facing producers.
Currently, the average pig unit is losing €56,000/month and this could rise to €71,000/month in April.
Teagasc has outlined that between 20-30% of pig units are at risk of closure.
A combination of low pigmeat prices and high feed costs have led to the crisis. The war in Ukraine has also substantially exacerbated the cost of feed.
Speaking to Agriland at today’s protest, IFA president Tim Cullinan said that it is vital retailers increase the price they are paying for pigmeat.
“This situation cannot continue. We’ve already seen a number of farmers exit the industry and that’s the reason we are here today.
“We want to see commitments from our government to maintain the sector that not alone has 300 farmers on the ground, but also employs 8,000 people,” Cullinan stated.
Pig farmer protest
Chair of the IFA Pigs Committee, Roy Gallie, called on Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue to take urgent action to save the sector.
“We are staring into the abyss here. Our pig sector is an important part of agriculture in this country, contributing nearly €1 billion in exports. However, the sector cannot survive a projected loss of €160 million in 2022,” he said.
“We are caught in a devastating price-cost squeeze. Some farmers have already culled breeding sows and more are suspending production. They cannot produce with losses of over €50/pig, and rising.
“If the government wants a pig sector, it must act now. We are at the point where farmers are exiting. If more go, then the upstream and downstream businesses become unviable and then the sector will be gone. It is that serious,” Gallie said.
The IFA has sent details of a €100 million industry-wide proposal to support pig farmers to Minister McConalogue.
“Part of the proposal is that pig farmers are offering to repay half the support through a levy on pigs once margins improve. However, Minister McConalogue needs to inject liquidity into the sector now if it is to survive,” Gallie said.
The IFA chair acknowledged that the minister had recently allocated €7 million to pig producers. However, he said that this has been “swamped by continuing losses and further feed price increases”.
Sinn Féin spokesperson on agriculture Matt Carthy also attended today’s protest to show his support for pig farmers.
The Cavan-Monaghan TD told Agriland that he has been raising the issues facing the sector with Minister McConalogue since last September. However, he believes the government response to the crisis has been too slow and too minimal.
“All farming sectors are going through a difficult period because input costs have been escalating.
“For the pig sector though, there is a particular issue, because while input costs have been rising through the roof, prices have been depressing. So it is almost the perfect storm and it’s very challenging,” he said.
Carthy explained that the sector had already been dealing with the impacts of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said that the government needs to use all of the mechanisms at its disposal including the €1 billion Brexit Adjustment Reserve and the relaxation of state-aid rules.
“The fact that so much of the funding that this sector is seeking is in the form of loans provides additional scope for the government to be imaginative in terms of bringing forward a response that allows this sector to survive,” Carthy concluded.