Farmers protesting over a proposed cap of €5,000 per farmer on the draft tillage crisis fund will ramp up the pressure on Monday morning by bringing a combine harvester into Dublin city centre.

Four farmers from the IFA grain committee have spent five days and nights in the Department headquarters at Kildare Street.

The four farmers, grain chair Liam Dunne, James Hill from Wicklow, Peter Lynch from Donegal and Kieran McEvoy from Laois have been joined by farmers from around the country since they first began their sit-in in Agriculture House.

Taken aback

"In previous negotiations between IFA and the Department, we had reluctantly accepted that a limit of €15,000 would have to be applied to the scheme, due to restrictive EU State Aid rules.

“However, the IFA was taken aback when a Department spokesman confirmed there would be a €5000 limit,” IFA president Joe Healy said.

"These farmers don't stand to benefit from the scheme themselves, but they are an example of the resolve within the organisation. While we are in regular contact with the Minister and his officials, a proposal to bring the occupation to an end has yet to be found,” he added.

Weather conditions at harvest time in 2016 left growers with severe losses in grain and straw and a tillage crisis fund has been on the cards since last autumn.

A December survey of farmers, carried out by the IFA found that 245 farmers lost more than €4.1m. Their total loss on grain amounted to €3.032m, while they also lost €1.073m on straw.

However the proposed Crop Loss Compensation Scheme is understood to only a total fund of €1.5m and a cap of €5,000 per farmer.

Read more

Tillage protest: some growers to lose out as talks centre on €1.5m maximum fund

Watch: grain farmers' protest escalates outside Department

Tillage crisis fund: why farmers need it and how it came about