A package of financial aid for farmers in the tillage sector could be on the way, following a very challenging harvest in 2023.
According to Bobby Miller, the chairperson of the Irish Grain Growers Group (IGGG), Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue confirmed to the group at its stand at the 2023 National Ploughing Championships that an aid package for the sector would be sought from the European Commission.
The details of the request for aid are not yet known; nor the timeline on when funding might be confirmed or the amount.
However, Miller said that the IGGG hopes that the aid would be confirmed before Budget 2024, as certain types of EU aid can be topped up through exchequer funding.
Speaking to Agriland, Miller highlighted the challenges tillage farmers have faced this harvest, saying that there are pockets of crops in various parts of the country that are “beyond harvesting at this point”, and “lost”.
“They’re just weather beaten at this stage. There’s no point getting a combine into them,” he said.
The IGGG chairperson said that, in terms of agriculture in Budget 2024, the “main focus must be tillage”.
The group had called for an aid package for the sector just prior to Ploughing 2023, saying that harvest 2023 had been “one of the most challenging seasons in living memory”.
The IGGG had said that “a case must be made” for the government to consider an exceptional aid payment in 2023 to active tillage farmers.
The group said: “It is right to say that tillage farmers feel like they are being hit from all sides this year.
“Many winter crop specialists couldn’t plant all the area they planned due to rain last autumn. March was a complete washout which should be peak spring-sowing time, and key crop husbandry of winter crops was extremely difficult,” according to the IGGG.
“Many didn’t get to start to sow until mid-April and planting only completed in May. This was followed by drought which hit spring barley yield especially, but no crop escaped its impact. This was followed by extreme wet again, which hit crops at peak grain fill-time,” the group added.