Over 150,000t of straw will be chopped this year as part of a new Government scheme, the Irish Farmers Journal understands.

Farmers will be paid €250/ha to incorporate straw in a €10m environmental scheme.

The 40,000ha budgeted for equates to one million bales at €10/bale.

That’s 15% of the total straw harvest.

The news will alarm livestock farmers and the mushroom industry who rely heavily on straw, particularly with peat being lost as a bedding option.

Straw supplies were tight in 2020 due to drought. A repeat this year, combined with the chopping of straw, could lead to exceptionally tight supplies, with increased prices an extra dividend for grain growers but a cost for cattle and sheep farmers.

Simple

IFA grain chair Mark Browne welcomed the scheme.

He said: “It’s important that the scheme is simple to operate and not unnecessarily restrictive.

“We would like rape straw, which livestock farmers can’t use for bedding, but has value when incorporated, to be included in the scheme.”