Seed availability for the coming years has been discussed at the first meeting of the National Fodder and Food Security Committee at Moorepark in Co. Cork today (Friday, March 11).
The committee was established this week by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue after he met with farm organisations and Teagasc to discuss the impact of the conflict in Ukraine on food supply.
Both Ukraine and Russia are major global players in the feed and fertiliser trade and supply chains from the region are expected to be disrupted for some time.
The committee is tasked with preparing an industry response to the emerging input crisis and is being chaired by former Animal Health Ireland (AHI) chair, Mike Magan.
Members of the committee include officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM); farming organisations; agricultural consultants; processors; financial institutions; and media.
Food security
Some of the issues for the tillage and horticulture sectors outlined at today’s meeting included energy supply; fertiliser availability; producers of vegetables leaving the industry; a reduction in the horticulture planting area; and seed availability.
Teagasc, which seems to be spearheading the committee, has outlined some potential issues to the current challenges in the two sectors.
It has raised the issue of access to land in order to increase the cereal area, suggesting that lower stocked grassland might be the best area to target.
It also highlighted the efficient use of nitrogen (N) as being crucial on all crops and the need to equip growers in the sectors with the latest costs and returns.
In terms of forage supply for the tillage sector, the committee was presented the suggestion of planting early harvested areas with legume cover crops and supplying whole crops or other forages from grassland.
Teagasc said its work to identify alternative supply lines for horticulture inputs is ongoing and it continues to provide advice to farmers on spring planting techniques and the best use of organic manures.
Advisors are also tweaking budgets and cashflows for farmers and providing advice on optimising rotations and nutrient planning and application.
Possible actions
Among the actions which will be taken as part of the work of the committee is to monitor seed availability for the next few years, with extra seed being needed for the increased cereal area for 2022 and 2023.
Another focus will be the supply of cover crop seed and treatment product for wet grain storage, as well as identifying new plant propagators.
The meeting also discussed the difficulty some farmers are experiencing in gaining access to credit and it was recommended also that there be immediate retailer engagement over pricing.