The issue of land being rented at “extreme prices” needs to be looked at as tillage farmers “simply cannot compete” with dairy farmers, Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns has said.
Deputy Cairns said that there seems to be no plan to address the issue that tillage farmers are finding it hard to rent land, other than “to talk to them about it”.
Raising the issue in the Dáil with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, she said the tillage sector is “not reaching its full potential in Ireland”.
Rental prices
Under Food Vision 2030 and the Climate Action Plan, a target is set to increase the tillage area to 400,000ha. However, the minister said he is “concerned” about where the sector is at this year.
The “big pressure” is the challenge around rental prices, Minister McConalogue, who raised concerns that the area under tillage in Ireland could shrink this year, said.
This issue around land, the minister said, has “certainly” been affected by the nitrates challenge and seems to be putting pressure on tillage farmers in particular.
“This has been an issue for a while now, in particular for farmers who might be facing a change in derogation and who are renting land in other places.
“Tillage farmers simply cannot compete with the price dairy farmers can make in that way.
“As a result, the policies continue to drive dairy farmers to increase the amount of nitrates they are using and they are renting land at extortionate prices to do that, which is worthwhile, and then preventing tillage farmers from being able to rent more land.
“From what the minister says, there does not seem to be any plan to address that,” Deputy Cairns said in a recent Dáil debate with the minister.
In response to Deputy Cairns, Minister McConalogue said he will raise the issue in Europe to see see if Ireland can get “additional flexibility”.
Because of the situation in dairy, she said it is “financially worthwhile” for dairy farmers to rent land and potentially not even use it, in order that they can apply more nitrates.
“If the nitrates are not even being applied to that area of land, it does not do anything to protect the water quality in a particular area, which is the entire purpose of having a limit on the amount of nitrates that can be used,” she said.
Tillage sector
Reaffirming his commitment to Ireland’s domestic tillage sector, which is one of the most carbon-efficient sectors in Irish agriculture, the minister said he wants to see the sector grow in the years ahead.
The recently established Food Vision 2030 Tillage Group has been tasked to “urgently” set out a road map for the sustainable growth and development of the sector up to 2030, he said.
Challenges in the sector, including access to land, will be discussed by the group and its recommendations will be “fully considered” by Minister McConalogue.
The minister highlighted that the Tillage Incentive Scheme (TIS), which was introduced last year, contributed to an increase in the tillage area of 20,000ha, or approximately 6% on 2021.
“We all know that there is not enough joined-up thinking for the tillage sector. It is completely undervalued. It is carbon neutral.
“We are importing food and feed from all over the world and there is no real or meaningful effort to encourage more people to go into tillage in Ireland,” Deputy Cairns said.