Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue is working on a package of supports to ensure farmers can grow enough feed and fodder, the Irish Examiner can confirm.
The minister called a meeting of the main farm organisations on Tuesday night where the national fodder and food security committee was established to guide the sector through likely supply-chain disruptions resulting from the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
The emergency task force will meet on Friday where they will work on developing a new farm resilience plan.
Earlier this week, Mr McConalogue said the work of the national fodder and food security committee would be the “number one priority” for the department.
“Let me be clear, there is urgency to the work of this committee, and I tasked them to meet and complete their work without delay,” he said.
“The first meeting of the committee is this Friday, and there is a window of opportunity in the next number of weeks to make decisions to help us build resilience.”
Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Mr McConalogue said: “I am acutely aware of the challenges facing our farm families and their businesses.
“I am intervening early to head off any potential issues later in the year. I asked the farm organisations to a meeting on Tuesday where we set the new committee to plot out how we, as an industry, can navigate our way through these challenging times.
“Speed is of the urgency here as we have time to plot and plan. This is the most important agenda in my department at the moment. I have intervened at the earliest possible stage to ensure that we can work collectively and collaboratively to help farmers offset the challenges ahead.
“This is about getting advice out our farmers on how to grow more grass, how to grow grains and cereals and, crucially, how they maximise the growing season to ensure they are covered for the year ahead. I will work with the committee as well as with my colleagues Ministers Hackett and Heydon to ensure we are resilient and robust for the time ahead.”
The Irish Examiner has learned that off back of the engagement with the farm organisations on Tuesday, the minister has already begun work on a package of supports to ensure that farmers are as best placed as possible to meet the challenges ahead.
It is understood these include supports around addressing the increasing costs facing farmers in growing fodder crops, accessing databases of organic manures, stronger incentives to sow crops such as red clover and multi-species swards which are less dependent on chemical fertiliser and supports for the planting of tillage crops and fodder crops.
The minister is expected to bring the anticipated multi-million-euro package to the Cabinet before the end of the month. This will be backed up by the work of the task force in rapidly disseminating information to farmers.
The emergency task force was formed on Tuesday evening to prevent a fodder shortage on Irish farms next winter as a result of war in Ukraine.
The committee will be led by Teagasc and will be tasked with exploring all options to minimise the impact on farms and plan in the short- to medium-term.
Ukraine’s government voted to ban the export of rye, barley, buckwheat, millet, sugar, salt, and meat on Wednesday to ensure its own food security.
Many farmers in Ukraine, which is the world’s sixth-largest exporter of soya and eighth-largest exporter of wheat, were unable to plant this season’s crops amid military bombardment.
It will likely have consequences for Ireland, as for three years straight, Ukraine has also been the biggest supplier of maize into Ireland, shipping 284,908 tonnes last year.
Plans have been set in motion to establish a national fodder resilience committee to tackle potential shortages in feed for Irish livestock this winter as a result of disruption to farm supplies caused by the war in Ukraine.
A further concern is that Russian fertiliser imports accounted for 22% of Irish total fertiliser imports in 2020.
During the meeting with farm groups, Mr McConalogue is also understood to have considered the possibility of requesting that Irish farmers switch from urea or CAN (calcium ammonium nitrate) to compound fertilisers.
Among the ideas discussed included an immediate inventory of all fertiliser, feed, seed, and other agricultural inputs to be conducted nationwide, as well as flexibility over scheme rules on wild bird cover and low-input pasture.
Earlier this week, the minister called for all Irish farmers to consider their winter fodder needs and how they plan to meet them, asking those who can to consider growing some cereal crops.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Irish Grain Growers Association chairman Bobby Miller said: “Growing a larger area of cereals in Ireland makes sense on so many levels, including climate change and the marketability of what we can produce.”
Mr Miller said he expected other countries may follow suit in banning certain kinds of food and feed exports to ensure their own food security.
“They are worried about their own food security and they are examining the steps they need to take,” said Mr Miller.
“The availability of grain is going to become an issue.
“We have been saying this for a while now — we have been too dependent on imports.
“We pride ourselves as a country on what we export, but what we import is coming home to roost now.”
