Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue has been urged to come forward with a “strong package of direct supports” for the sheep sector in Budget 2024.
Sheep farmers will be “anxiously watching” the budget announcement next month to see if the minister’s words of support for the sector translate into “meaningful” funding commitments.
This is according to the Irish Farmers’ Association’s (IFA) Sheep chair, Kevin Comiskey, who said there is no “hiding place” for the minister as the income crisis deepens on sheep farms.
Minister McConalogue cannot “continue to ignore” the challenges in the sector, he said, while calling for a “strong, meaningful, and targetted” support package for sheep farmers in the budget.
Comiskey said that support is “critical” for the economic viability of the sector and to ensure generational renewal to protect what is Ireland’s “second largest” farming sector.
Sheep sector
Weak markets to date this year are taking a further €11 million directly from sheep farmers’ pockets as prices to date average almost 30c/kg behind last year’s levels, he said.
The IFA Sheep chair added that hill sheep farmers have had a “particularly challenging” two years as store finishers grapple with high input costs and low market returns.
Comiskey further urged for the costings in the Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS) to be revised to reflect the costs of compliance with the scheme for farmers.
“The genotype ram action in particular is costing farmers €200 to €300 more in the price they have had to pay for scheme-eligible rams,” he said.
However, the minister recently said that SIS, which is an EU co-funded scheme, payment increases to Irish sheep farmers would be subject to the agreement of the European Commission.
Commenting further that sheep farmers have carried the impact of the “collapsed” wool market with no recognition from government, which is “unacceptable and must be addressed”, he said:
“If the full benefits and value of this product is to be developed, then farmers must be directly supported for the costs associated with shearing and presenting wool in optimum condition.”
The IFA is calling for a payment of €8/ewe for farmers to offset the costs and labour associated with shearing and presenting wool. He said they are also calling for €10/ewe for carrying out sheep dipping.
This, he said, is “extremely labour-intensive and expensive for sheep farmers, yet [dipping] is recognised as the most effective way to deal with issues such as sheep scab”.
The IFA has set out these proposals in detail to the minister and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), including supports for store lamb finishers, he said.