The Irish tillage sector “is in crisis” and has just endured its fourth successive year of bad prices. A joint Oireachtas agriculture committee has just published a comprehensive 97-page report on what it feels needs to be done to address the issues.

The report, entitled the Future of the Tillage Sector in Ireland, was launched on Wednesday by committee chair and Carlow-Kilkenny TD Pat Deering.

The tillage sector is in a crisis and has been for a number of years

The report was drafted after submissions were made to the committee from the likes of the IFA, the Irish Grain Growers, IOFGA, Teagasc and Science Foundation Ireland in September and October this year.

Recommendations

While there are three concluding recommendations focusing on the need to ensure CAP payments are maintained, access to credit is available to farmers and a new action plan for the sector out to 2050 is maintained, the report highlights various other issues that need to be addressed

The committee recommends that the Department of Agriculture analyse the potential for agricultural insurance schemes, as operated in other countries.

The reports urges Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed to “vocally support the extension of a licence for glyphosate”.

Due to the changing climate and farmers being hit with weather issues on a more regular basis, the report suggests a method to protect farmers’ incomes as a result of crop loss.

“It will be necessary to investigate the merits of crop insurance if tillage farming is to continue in Ireland.” Although the report does not suggest how this would work.

Beet

Ireland’s beet industry has been left behind and can no longer compete on a European stage, according to the report.

While there are opportunities to develop niche aspects within the sector, there appears to be no large-scale commercial opportunities here.

“Other member states have established sugar industries, which can more readily increase production to meet demand, whereas Ireland no longer has a sugar processing industry,” the report states.

In the absence of a sugar processing industry in Ireland, it recommends that consideration should be given to determining at least small-scale processing of sugar beet in Ireland to supply sugar beet molasses to Irish poitín producers.

No silver bullet

Chair of the Oireachtas agriculture committee Pat Deering told the Irish Farmers Journal that he hopes the report will be used to further drive change in the sector.

“We’ve put lots of work and lots of time into this report. We like to think that it is the beginning of a conversation. The tillage sector is in a crisis and has been for a number of years, so we felt we needed to start a conversation about what can be done to try and help the farmers there. It’s no silver bullet.

“The loss of the beet sector had a bigger impact on tillage than people would realise. It was a very serious loss to the wider industry. The problems in the tillage sector here, I feel, can be traced from the demise of the beet sector.”

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