Land leasing tax breaks seem poised to be heavily weighted towards tillage farmers. In an address to the inaugural meeting of the new Food Vision 2030 tillage group, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue is expected to call on them to explore ways to keep land in tillage long term.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands that the likely suggestion will be to prioritise leasing supports towards tillage and away from livestock. Last week, it was revealed that the area under cereal crops will fall by 18,000ha this year, due to land moving to dairy farmers and protein crops.

This will be another blow to dairy farmers as milk price cuts bite. This week, Lakeland cut base milk price to 37c/l excluding VAT for the first time.

Tirlán CEO Jim Bergin said prices are unlikely to recover until later in the year, after peak milk supplies.