Tillage farmers 'facing into serious loss-making situation'
High land rents – inflated by new nitrates rules – and declining Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments are severely impacting tillage farmers this year.
The "atrocious" weather in July and August means Ireland's tillage farmers are "facing into a serious loss-making situation", the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) has warned.
IFA national grain chairman Kieran McEvoy said that feed spring barley and winter wheat are "incurring significant losses per acre, particularly on rented land".
Analysis completed by the IFA shows that a 2.6 tonne per acre spring feed barley crop grown on rented land is losing approximately €125 per acre, even after all direct payments.
High land rents – inflated by new nitrates rules – and declining Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments are "hammering" tillage farmers this year.
"The combination of declining CAP payments; very high input costs; moderate to poor yields from a difficult growing season; high land rental costs; and atrocious weather in July and early August are all coming home to roost now," Mr McEvoy outlined.
"While the weather has improved over the past 10 days with better ground conditions, many farmers still have winter barley straw unbaled and a significant portion of spring barley crops yet to harvest."
Many of the later sown malting barley crops are now facing very high rejection levels, the IFA said.
"We are urgently seeking a meeting with Boortmalt on this issue as something has to be done to alleviate the losses farmers are facing due to the high rejection levels," Mr McEvoy continued.
"It’s now clear that we will need further Government support if this sector is to stand still, let alone increase its land area in the coming decade."
Otherwise, Mr McEvoy warned, a "massive contraction" in Ireland's tillage area may be seen in the coming months and years.
According to the Department of Agriculture, there was an approximate 6% or 20,000 hectare increase in tillage area in Ireland last year over 2021.
The Climate Action Plan has set a target to increase the area under tillage crops to 400,000 hectares by 2030.
Former TD Tom Barry, a tillage farmer in Killavullen, Mallow, told the that the challenges this year "cannot be underestimated", and that farmers are "extremely worried".
The difficult weather, a mix of extreme wetness along with drought since October, resulted in Mr Barry and many others experiencing disruption to setting, which in turn "affected the yield potential".
Additionally, for the first time in 30 years, Mr Barry said he did not set any winter barley because of the conditions.
He and the others have "dealt with it, and we are working as best we can through it and a lot of tillage farmers are helping each other where they can".
However, farmers’ costs including "fertiliser, sprays, diesel, machinery, are all huge" and with uncertainty around grain prices, "it’s a perfect storm".
"Everybody is so busy getting the crops done but when they sit down after the harvest year, it’ll be a difficult one to try and get the maths to add up," Mr Barry said.
He stressed that the sector has to be supported by Government through this "emergency".
IFA farm business chairwoman Rose Mary McDonagh has questioned the disparity between the price tillage farmers are receiving, and the animal feed prices charged by feed suppliers to drystock, dairy, pig, and poultry farmers.
While weather and higher inputs have played a part, tillage farmers have taken a cut of about a third in the price paid by merchants for their grain.
However, the latest CSO figures for animal compound feed shows the price increased by 1% over the last 12 months to June 2023.
In the same period, fertiliser prices declined by 43%.
However, the IFA said it should be noted the drop in fertiliser price came after cereal farmers had purchased almost all of their fertiliser for the 2023 cereal crop at "vastly inflated prices".
Ms McDonagh said that those buying grain from tillage farmers and those supplying feedstuffs to livestock farmers "need to act fairly".
"Tillage farmers must get a fair price for their grain while livestock farmers must be charged a fair price for their feedstuff. Based on our analysis of the latest data, serious questions have to be asked," Ms McDonagh said.
