Grain prices: a spring of discontent for farmers over imports

As grain prices endure a considerable dip, growers are rightly asking why, despite their obvious willingness to make a significant contribution towards the provision of fodder to help alleviate last year’s problems for the livestock sector, the industry has turned its back on native grains in favour of cheaper imports.

At a time when more and more questions are being asked about the source and nature of the ingredients which go into Irish food products, we can see feed imports push up to around 4.5 million tonnes.

We hear concerns over climate change and the need for a green image, while some of our feed is being imported from the other side of the world.

In this era of carbon footprint and climate change, we have a substantial amount of by-products from the vegetable oils industry being imported and used, despite international concerns about the implication of these industries in the destruction of rain forests.

While cheap imports will be used to complement higher native prices, the almost minuscule level of native grain use must leave us in a weak position for our exports

Do we not realise that we are being placed under the microscope for our sourcing of proteins and other feed grains? Whether we like it or not the international community are looking in and watching what we are doing, as distinct from what we say we are doing.

These factors are undoubtedly contributing to the lack of demand for native grains, following the smallest harvest we have witnessed for decades.

While cheap imports will be used to complement higher native prices, the almost minuscule level of native grain use must leave us in a weak position for our exports.

It seems like we are operating under a flag of convenience with regard to our marketing story.

However, a tillage industry will not survive producing straw alone. Without acknowledgement of what fully traceable grains do for the integrity of our ‘green food’, our industry is vulnerable.

Not just feed

These comments are not confined to feed grains. In recent years, we have seen an increased willingness to import more raw materials for the malting/drinks industry. Can we afford to have any industry using an Irish image and the Irish name to market its products, vulnerable to imports?

Genetic advances in the fine-tuning of modern malting varieties are mainly applicable to the drinks sector.

But it is the grower who is paying for this through plant breeders’ rights on seed. Yet this technology is being used to increase the amount of non-malt ingredients in drink.

There has been much talk about traceability and assurance for many decades and much of the ‘Irish image’ of our exports is built around this

We have the potential to support a good drinks industry, which is a thriving sector, but this is being diluted by its stated willingness to use imports.

Farmers across the southeast report the significant daily traffic, transporting imported maize to most of our major distilling businesses.

There has been much talk about traceability and assurance for many decades and much of the ‘Irish image’ of our exports is built around this.

But it seems to most people that traceability ends at the manufacturer’s gate. This comment is not confined to the tillage sector but again it adds to the vulnerability of our image when we cannot substantiate our claims.

Such problems are not confined to malting. It is ironic that in all the concerns expressed over Brexit, no one has seen fit to be concerned about flour imports.

We no longer have an operative commercial flour milling sector in the country. For the past few decades virtually all our flour requirements have come from imports and virtually all of these come from Britain.

An assumption that flour tankers will continue to roll in from Britain or elsewhere in the event of a hard border may be mistaken.

Our requirements in flour are different to many other countries as we, like the British, use the Chorleywood baking process which requires a flour spec that is not so readily available elsewhere. The one flour mill we do still have produces flour for the retail market here but it has reportedly stopped buying Irish wheat.

Time to rethink

The tillage sector has been willing to play its part in helping to ensure the provenance and authenticity of its products, which are ingredients for many different sectors.

But for those who believe that the consumer is not capable of asking sensible questions, think again.

There are increasing concerns about the use of GM ingredients in livestock feeds. And while there may be no good reason why this should be a problem, the fact that we are not open about what we do leaves our industry vulnerable.

With regard to native non-GM protein, there are only a few players making a visible effort to put a price in place to help secure native protein production.

While we must all accept the relative cheapness and value that imported maize offers currently, we are increasingly vulnerable when imports dwarf native grains in the formulation of rations.

Grass fed is an admirable concept, but it gets difficult to stand it up when feed imports have increased from around 1.5mt to about 4.5mt last year.

Is Glanbia the only company attempting to stand up this claim to scrutiny through its use of its closed-loop systems?

Do consumers accept that the only requirement for the manufacture of Irish whiskey is that it be distilled and matured in Ireland?

Do they not have a belief that there is a considerable amount of native ingredients involved also?

Tillage cannot continue to be the fall guy, that enables the rest of the industry to keep face.