Little to help suffering of farmers with land underwater

By Ray Ryan Agribusiness Correspondent

Thursday, December 10, 2009

THE budget did little to ease the woes of Michael Kelly, part of whose family farm in south Galway remains under flood water.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan announced that more than €70 million will be provided over the remainder of 2009 and into 2010 to help those affected by recent flooding and fund work to minimise the risks of future incidents.

But the Ardrahan farmer said the amount of money provided was only a token gesture towards tackling the real causes of flooding by carrying out badly needed schemes on rivers.

"It wouldn’t start the digger in this day and age. It confirms my suspicions that the Government has no real commitment to dealing with the flooding issue," he said.

Mr Kelly, a 50 hectare suckler, beef and sheep farmer, said there were no indications that schemes to alleviate the causes of the flooding would start. He wondered if the money would actually be used to put in flood defences in towns and cities.

About one fifth of his land is still covered by two feet of water and he believes it will remain so for the foreseeable future.

"My farmhouse, yard and fodder are safe, but my grassland is gone and that’s where I have the problem.

"The implications for me relates to when I am going to get the land back and the cost that I will have to face in re-seeding all that ground," he said.

Michael said he does not know if he will be even able to get land back into full production in 2010.

"I am not a negative person but I can’t predict what the level of the water will be. We had it bad in 1995 but nothing in comparison with 2009.

"And who is to say the same thing is not going to happen again next autumn unless something is done about the flooding," he said.

Michael, who lost three or four sheep in the floods, said the greater part of his farm is two miles away from his home.

"In normal circumstances it would take me 10 minutes to get up and down to my farm on my tractor or jeep.

"I now have a 12 mile round-journey every day and maybe twice a day some days to get to access to my land and feed my stock," he said.

Michael said the flooding came at the back of a bad year with Government cuts in farm schemes, wet weather, low prices, a poor outlook and difficulties in saving fodder and getting reasonable quality silage.

"It was very difficult in the past few weeks to see men with up to 40 years experience of farming break down, worried if there was a future and afraid of the unknown.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, December 10, 2009