Calls for Agriculture Minister to allocate budget to ease fodder crisis

There is a call for the Agriculture Minister Michael Creed to allocate a dedicated budget to farmers to help them through the fodder crisis.

IFA President Joe Healy is making the call, as Smart Farming hosts a seminar today on ways to reduce farm bills and enhance the environment.

He says the Minister needs to make a significant fund available towards an Early Warning System that operates locally to help farmers before any welfare problems emerge.

Joe Healy says things are pretty bleak for farmers across the country.

He said: "Well I think farmers are in a bad state at the moment.

"They're under pressure physically, financially, and mentally.

"One of our farmers described it during the week, there is no worse sound that for a farmer to go into the yard and hear the animals roaring with the hunger."

- Digital Desk