Farmers have raised fears that the requirement to source all fodder through co-ops to avail of the Government transport subsidy will make the scheme less efficient.
Speaking at the ICSA AGM, the organisation’s Sligo chair, Gabriel Gilmartin, said it could supply 8x4x3 bales of straw for €66 – cheaper than prices quoted by co-ops in recent weeks.
“There is no need to make money for the co-ops,” he said.
However, Minister Creed said the co-op channel was the agreed procedure.
“It is taxpayers’ money,” the minister said. “I don’t think it’s fair to say the co-ops are profiteering from this.”
A Co Roscommon farmer told the Irish Farmers Journal he was disappointed that he could not source straw and hay under the scheme from the Co Carlow farmer he has used for the past 20 years.
“It will provide silage, but not in a cost-effective way,” he said.
“Quality is a risk,” he added, not knowing where the 100 bales he now needs would come from under the scheme. He argued that cheque stubs and hauliers’ signatures could have been used to trace funds.
The Irish Farmers Journal understands that co-ops were initially reluctant to step into the fodder trade, but are now willing to incorporate existing routes when implementing the scheme, such as established local relationships or the county twinnings, recently organised by the IFA.
Fodder scheme opens to criticism