The current spell of good weather, while welcome, is not masking the vagaries of Harvest 2024 for Irish tillage farmers.
Crops are not ripening on a uniform basis in many parts of the country. This is especially the case, where spring oats are concerned.
The knock-on effect of the poor weather that has characterised so much of the current growing season was the focus of a tillage debate hosted in the Agriland pavilion at the 2024 National Ploughing Championships.
The participants were: Chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) national grain committee, Ciaran McEvoy; chair of the Irish Grain Growers’ Group (IGGG), Bobby Miller and chair of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) tillage committee, Gavin Carberry.
According to the McEvoy, spring crops have yielded well in places. But overall performance, both in terms of grain and straw output, has been patchy.
“Challenging grain prices are adding significant pressure on tillage farm incomes. This is the second year in succession that growers have been facing this set of circumstances,” he said.
Harvest 2024
Meanwhile, ICSA’s tillage chair confirmed that harvest progress to date in both the north-east and north-west was considerably behind that achieved in the rest of the country.
All three farm organisation representatives agreed that the upcoming Budget 2025 will provide the government with an opportunity to officially respond to the Food Vision Tillage Report.
Both IFA and ICSA are calling on the government to deliver a €250/ha support payment on an annual basis over the next five years.
IGGG is also keen for the co-ops to offer tillage farmers sustainability ‘bonus’ payments along similar lines to those already agreed with milk producers.
Malting barley was identified as a potential growth area within the cereals sector. This reflects the growing investment in Ireland’s malting capacity.
There was also recognition on the part of the three farm organisation representatives that the ongoing contraction of the tillage sector must be halted and subsequently reversed.
“Farmers continue to leave the tillage sector. All of this crop growing expertise has been lost and it will be almost impossible to replace.
“If this trend continues, the industry will not reach the 400,000ha growth target referenced in Ireland’s climate action plan.
“Making this happen will require a long term commitment on the part of the government. And Budget 2025 will be very important in this context,” McEvoy added.