PAUL MILLS (Feb 3) is correct when he refers to the opportunities for the agri-food sector in this country as the global population increases.

AS the harvest gets under way in earnest, the IFA has warned that a sustained recovery in grain prices is necessary if tillage farming is to survive.

GREENCORE has a corporate and moral obligation to malting barley growers to resolve the issue of their contracts, farmers claimed yesterday. They were protesting at the company’s extraordinary general meeting held in Dublin to approve the sale of its malting business to French co-op Axereal.

GREENCORE’S success in selling off its malt business last week is a step in the right direction for a group with ambitions to hone itself into an international convenience food group.

GLANBIA announced last night it had no other option but to issue protective notices to its 27 production employees at two grain mills in Laois and Wexford.

DAIRYGOLD Co-op has been urged by Munster IFA vice president Seán O’Leary to urgently review its grain price.

OVER €1 million in limited additional funding is being provided for the Early Retirement Scheme in farming.

A HARVEST price of €120 per tonne for malting barley was announced yesterday by Greencore Malt, but the Irish Farmers Association described it as opportunistic and below the cost of production.

AS fine weather boosted harvest work in many parts of the country yesterday, the Irish Farmers Association warned that the future of grain production is in doubt for many growers.

DRUMMONDS, one of the country’s oldest seed companies, yesterday announced the closure of its six branches with the loss of 44 jobs.

THE first logs made in Ireland from miscanthus, a renewable fuel crop grown by farmers, have gone on the retail market in Limerick.

SOME auctioneers were accused by the Irish Farmers Association yesterday of hyping con-acre prices on the back of one-off higher grain prices.

IT is time the co-ops started working for their members and began paying the true market value of grain, the Irish Farmers Association has warned.

ALL grain growers have been urged to look for firm commitments from buyers that they will pay “the proper market price” for supplies.

FARMERS have been urged to tie down a price before committing or delivering their grain this harvest.

CONTRACT prices for this year’s grain reached new highs in Europe recently as concerns grew over crop prospects due to unusually warm and dry spring weather.

GRAIN growers have been urged to insist on minimum price contracts before sowing this spring.