Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has refused to row back on his decision to suspend the Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) following a meeting with farm organisations.

Speaking at the Irish Farmers Journal Suckler and Sheep open day in Tullamore on Tuesday, the minister said he decided not to proceed with the scheme because he didn’t want “a situation where the Government were paying to chop-in straw which we may have to end up importing next spring”.

He said his message to farmers in terms of clarity “is to bale it because it’s needed and my message to [livestock] farmers is to buy it, because it’s needed”.

“The €10m allocated for [the measure] this year, I’m determined to make sure that we keep that in the sector so that the sector is supported because I want to see the sector grow,” he said.

Oilseed rape

When asked by a farmer why oilseed rape straw would not be paid for in the measure, the minister explained that all straw was needed.

The Irish Farmers Journal pointed out that oilseed rape straw sprayed with Astrokerb cannot be baled and used as farmyard manure.

To this, the minister said: “I’m looking at it in the round. I have to look and provide leadership to the sector and sometimes that means hard decisions.

“I don’t want as minister to have a situation where I’m overseeing the import of straw. It’s happened twice in the last decade,” he said.

The IFA and the Irish Grain Growers Group (IGGG) met with the Minister in Agriculture House, Dublin, this morning, 23 July.

Both organisations told the Irish Farmers Journal ahead of the meeting that they were firm in their views that the minister needs to reverse his decision to seek a suspension of SIM.

Suspension of SIM

On Wednesday of last week, Minister McConalogue announced that he was seeking permission from the European Commission to suspend the scheme for 2024 due to fodder shortages.

The announcement was met with a furious reaction from tillage farmers who had already started harvesting crops and chopping straw under the measures.

Read some of those farmers views at this link.