Grain industry looks for quality reward

A GRAIN quality company has called for funds taken from tillage farmers’ Single Payments to be returned to growers and merchants, as a reward for participating in food safety schemes which operate to the highest standards.

The Modulated Funds proposal was made by Andrew Bergin, Director of CropSure, which implements the Irish Grain Assurance Scheme (IGAS ) on behalf of the Cereals Association of Ireland.

IGAS Assurance is a requirement for all grain for the drinks and seed industries, and 90% of traded grain in Ireland goes through the scheme. With the Irish Feed Assurance Scheme covering 75% of all compound feeds, the Irish grain and feed industry claims to have one of the highest levels of grain traceability in Europe.

Grain intake points which handle only assured grain were awarded Trading Assured Grain Scheme Certificates recently.