Tillage farmers on the brink

Another season of heavy rain and unfavourable conditions has left tillage farmers and their representatives very concerned about the viability of the sector.

Adverse weather conditions in recent years have had a detrimental effect on Irish harvests and on Tuesday the IFA and the IGG put forward submissions on grain to the Oireachtas committee on agriculture.

The IFA estimates that the area of land sown over the last 10 years has decreased by over 142,000 acres, equivalent to almost 20%.

It also states that sowings in 2017 were down 37,000ac compared with the previous year.

The 2017 harvest has been even worse than last year for many tillage farmers

This continues last year’s downturn in the tillage sector, as overall production in 2016 of wheat, oats and barley decreased by 12.3%, according to the Central Statistics Office.

“Unfortunately, as I speak, a number of growers are struggling to complete this year’s grain harvest and save straw as weather has taken a turn for the worse.

“It is vitally important that we collectively devise an action plan to address the serious and deepening income crisis in the Irish tillage farming sector, as we are now into the fifth consecutive year of low grain prices,” IFA grain committee chair Liam Dunne said.

Protest

Earlier this year, the IFA held a sit-in at the Department of Agriculture in Dublin protesting the level of compensation offered to farmers after the poor harvest of 2016.

The IGG estimates that grain farmers are currently earning €2/hour.