The tillage industry has been expressing a fear that with 35,000ha fewer winter crops in the ground than last year, a seed shortage and poor returns, more land could leave the tillage sector this year.
If this is the outcome, the Government will be failing to meet its target of increasing the tillage area by over 52,000ha by 2030.
In 2022, the Government’s Climate Action Plan for 2023 set out an aim to increase the area of tillage land in this country by 52,000ha to 400,000ha by 2030.
The interim target is to reach 360,000ha by 2025. This is due to the low carbon footprint in the sector (see Table 1).
If tillage area declines, agriculture’s overall carbon footprint could increase. In 2023, there were approximately 350,000ha of tillage crops and the tillage area declined by 0.5%.
Industry experts expect the area to decline significantly in 2024, following an extremely tough year financially, and due to demand for land from the dairy sector and, to a lesser extent, solar farms.
What is being done to support the tillage sector?
Protein Aid Scheme:
Farmers are paid a payment per hectare to grow protein crops. The budget of €7m is divided between the area declared. The budget increased to €10m in 2023, as area increased substantially. This is part of the EU’s overall strategy to reduce nitrogen fertiliser use and reliance on imported protein. The payment in 2023 was significant at €583/ha.
Straw Incorporation Measure: Farmers are paid €250/ha to chop and incorporate straw back into the soil to store carbon and improve soil health. Oilseed rape straw receives €150/ha. The scheme effectively replaces the income the straw would have brought in and places a floor in the market, which helps prices.
What is hindering an increase in tillage area?
Many things are hindering the increase in tillage area – whether that be rules within tillage or across the agricultural sector.
Nitrates rule changes, banding and derogation stocking rate reductions – these rules are forcing dairy farmers to reduce stock numbers or to acquire more land. This results in tillage farmers losing land, as they cannot compete in the land market.The majority of tillage farmers are losing money in their direct payments through convergence.Government targets to increase organic farming, forestry and native woodlands are all being supported by payments. The tillage area increase is not.The Department appears to have a lack of understanding of the sector.The Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) failed to supply a range of attractive tillage measures.Stubble cultivation rules are putting huge pressure on farmers.The crop diversification requirement (three-crop rule) remains in place in 2024, despite a wet autumn reducing winter cropping area and a seed shortage. Cover crops are to be planted where the requirements are not met, which could have a knock-on effect on ACRES payments.Recommended lists were delayed into January in a year of a seed shortage.Loss of land to increased buffer zones.Grazing of catch crops to encourage co-operation between sectors has declined due to new buffer zones and lie-back requirements.A grant for slurry storage was announced in Budget 2024, but no details have been revealed since. TAMS is focused on big machinery and there is no basic equipment to set up a tillage farmer.What is being done to increase the area?
Simply put, very little.
The Tillage Incentive Scheme was brought in to produce more home-grown grain as a reaction to the war in Ukraine. Last year’s entrants will be paid €200/ha to keep land in tillage this season, but there will be no new entrants.The Food Vision Tillage Group was announced in March, first met in May, and then released an interim report in August. The final report has not been released. The group continues to meet and the measures in the report missed the opportunity of budget funding.
The Department announced a tillage crisis payment of €28/ha (€11/ac). Many tillage farmers described the payment as an insult.A total of €8m was put aside for tillage in the budget. This money was later dedicated to an unharvested crops scheme. But if you look at the Shannon Callows farmers’ aid package, this money was not taken from budget support – it was emergency aid. Some 277 farmers applied for the unharvested crops payment of €1,000/ha, although all may not qualify for payment.It is now likely the unspent budget funds will be added to the tillage payment of €28/ha.The Straw Incorporation Measure’s budget has been placed at €10m for the five
years of the CAP. It has been increased to meet demand in the past, but farmers need to be sure that they will be paid if they enter the scheme. They are not guaranteed payment at present, as the budget is currently at €10m. In 2023, €12.3m was needed to pay all farmers in the scheme.
Bord Bia has sat in the wings for a long time now, ignoring the fact that millions of tonnes of feed are being imported every year to feed Irish animals.
Along with Teagasc and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), it launched AgNav to calculate carbon footprints, despite the fact the tool cannot account for differences between Irish grain and imported grain.
It should not have been launched until it was complete.
In Bord Bia’s dairy audit, days at grass – even though they are short on the shoulders – result in lower carbon footprints. However, these cows may be supplemented with maize grown on deforested land in South America.
Meanwhile, the farmer buying maize or beet from their neighbour and keeping cows indoors for a few extra weeks could see their carbon footprint increase.
Eventually, the dairy and meat industries will realise they need Irish tillage. Hopefully, it won’t be too late when they do.
We have only approximately 60 field vegetable farmers left in Ireland, and the tillage sector cannot go the same way.
The tillage industry has been expressing a fear that with 35,000ha fewer winter crops in the ground than last year, a seed shortage and poor returns, more land could leave the tillage sector this year.
If this is the outcome, the Government will be failing to meet its target of increasing the tillage area by over 52,000ha by 2030.
In 2022, the Government’s Climate Action Plan for 2023 set out an aim to increase the area of tillage land in this country by 52,000ha to 400,000ha by 2030.
The interim target is to reach 360,000ha by 2025. This is due to the low carbon footprint in the sector (see Table 1).
If tillage area declines, agriculture’s overall carbon footprint could increase. In 2023, there were approximately 350,000ha of tillage crops and the tillage area declined by 0.5%.
Industry experts expect the area to decline significantly in 2024, following an extremely tough year financially, and due to demand for land from the dairy sector and, to a lesser extent, solar farms.
What is being done to support the tillage sector?
Protein Aid Scheme:
Farmers are paid a payment per hectare to grow protein crops. The budget of €7m is divided between the area declared. The budget increased to €10m in 2023, as area increased substantially. This is part of the EU’s overall strategy to reduce nitrogen fertiliser use and reliance on imported protein. The payment in 2023 was significant at €583/ha.
Straw Incorporation Measure: Farmers are paid €250/ha to chop and incorporate straw back into the soil to store carbon and improve soil health. Oilseed rape straw receives €150/ha. The scheme effectively replaces the income the straw would have brought in and places a floor in the market, which helps prices.
What is hindering an increase in tillage area?
Many things are hindering the increase in tillage area – whether that be rules within tillage or across the agricultural sector.
Nitrates rule changes, banding and derogation stocking rate reductions – these rules are forcing dairy farmers to reduce stock numbers or to acquire more land. This results in tillage farmers losing land, as they cannot compete in the land market.The majority of tillage farmers are losing money in their direct payments through convergence.Government targets to increase organic farming, forestry and native woodlands are all being supported by payments. The tillage area increase is not.The Department appears to have a lack of understanding of the sector.The Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES) failed to supply a range of attractive tillage measures.Stubble cultivation rules are putting huge pressure on farmers.The crop diversification requirement (three-crop rule) remains in place in 2024, despite a wet autumn reducing winter cropping area and a seed shortage. Cover crops are to be planted where the requirements are not met, which could have a knock-on effect on ACRES payments.Recommended lists were delayed into January in a year of a seed shortage.Loss of land to increased buffer zones.Grazing of catch crops to encourage co-operation between sectors has declined due to new buffer zones and lie-back requirements.A grant for slurry storage was announced in Budget 2024, but no details have been revealed since. TAMS is focused on big machinery and there is no basic equipment to set up a tillage farmer.What is being done to increase the area?
Simply put, very little.
The Tillage Incentive Scheme was brought in to produce more home-grown grain as a reaction to the war in Ukraine. Last year’s entrants will be paid €200/ha to keep land in tillage this season, but there will be no new entrants.The Food Vision Tillage Group was announced in March, first met in May, and then released an interim report in August. The final report has not been released. The group continues to meet and the measures in the report missed the opportunity of budget funding.
The Department announced a tillage crisis payment of €28/ha (€11/ac). Many tillage farmers described the payment as an insult.A total of €8m was put aside for tillage in the budget. This money was later dedicated to an unharvested crops scheme. But if you look at the Shannon Callows farmers’ aid package, this money was not taken from budget support – it was emergency aid. Some 277 farmers applied for the unharvested crops payment of €1,000/ha, although all may not qualify for payment.It is now likely the unspent budget funds will be added to the tillage payment of €28/ha.The Straw Incorporation Measure’s budget has been placed at €10m for the five
years of the CAP. It has been increased to meet demand in the past, but farmers need to be sure that they will be paid if they enter the scheme. They are not guaranteed payment at present, as the budget is currently at €10m. In 2023, €12.3m was needed to pay all farmers in the scheme.
Bord Bia has sat in the wings for a long time now, ignoring the fact that millions of tonnes of feed are being imported every year to feed Irish animals.
Along with Teagasc and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF), it launched AgNav to calculate carbon footprints, despite the fact the tool cannot account for differences between Irish grain and imported grain.
It should not have been launched until it was complete.
In Bord Bia’s dairy audit, days at grass – even though they are short on the shoulders – result in lower carbon footprints. However, these cows may be supplemented with maize grown on deforested land in South America.
Meanwhile, the farmer buying maize or beet from their neighbour and keeping cows indoors for a few extra weeks could see their carbon footprint increase.
Eventually, the dairy and meat industries will realise they need Irish tillage. Hopefully, it won’t be too late when they do.
We have only approximately 60 field vegetable farmers left in Ireland, and the tillage sector cannot go the same way.
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