The tillage forum convened for the first time on Wednesday with bodies from all areas of the sector meeting to discuss the future of the embattled industry.

The meeting, which was chaired by Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed, heard submissions from a range of stakeholders including Teagasc, farm organisations, the Irish Grain and Feed Association (IGFA), as well as other including seed and chemical companies.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, IFA grain committee chair Liam Dunne said that he welcomed the first meeting of the forum but now wants action to protect the sector.

“It was a start,” Dunne said.

“The recognition is there that there are problems in the sector. It was good to see that other farm organisations like the ICSA and the ICMSA who don’t represent tillage farmers all the time, are very worried and concerned about where things are going.”

The Co Kildare tillage farmer said he is happy that Minister Creed listened to all ideas but urged him to act.

“The minister got plenty of ideas from the meeting. He said he was there to listen and analyse the arguments from all sides… this is the first time that we have gotten everyone in the sector around the one table to look at the sector objectively… There definitely needs to be action now for everyone,” Dunne added.

Conacre concerns

Deirdre Webb of the IGFA said that, from her perspective, one of the big issues at the meeting was conacre. Conacre is the rental of land for a period of no more than 11 months and carries with it little security for the farmer taking the land.

“There needs to be action on conacre; there just needs to be,” Webb said.

“It was brought up as a big issue in the meeting and there was no definitive outcome on it. It’s disappointing that we didn’t make much headway there as farmers are totally exposed on it and end up taking more than they should just to secure land,” she added.

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