IFA unveils menu of solutions to ease income pressure on farmers

Enhanced direct payments, low cost short-term loans and the abolition of EU import tariffs on fertiliser are on the IFA’s menu of solutions for the income crisis facing farmers.

Having briefed TDs and senators, the IFA is intensifying a multi-tiered campaign to secure measures to relieve the income pressure being felt by farmers in every sector and every county of Ireland. It is seeking Government and EU support for its measures, including greater access to banking finance.

IFA president, Joe Healy, said: “With prices running below the cost of production on dairy and grain farms, the income crisis is compounded by a clear market failure in the Irish financial sector. The cost of financing short-term working capital on farms is very high, with average quoted rates for overdraft facilities of 8%, and higher rates for merchant credit. These rates are out of line with interest rates of 2% or less available to some farmers on the continent.