Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) president Francie Gorman told Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue that his decision to seek a suspension to the Straw Incorporation Measure “isn’t going to deliver what you expect”.

The Minister was speaking at the Energy and Farm Diversification Show in Gurteen on Thursday 18 July and had met with the IFA and the Irish Grain Growers Group (IGGG) previously that morning.

Speaking on the proposed suspension, Minister McConalogue said that he is “looking forward to next winter and spring and the fodder situation in particular”.

He said it has been “pretty much a seven-month winter for housing animals” and referred to poor growth.

'10% behind on fodder'

The Minister outlined that the country is 10% behind on fodder and said “there wasn’t a bale of straw to be got this spring either”.

He said that the country needs “good straw supplies in the system” and needs to “make sure we're prepared for the winter ahead”.

He said that for these reasons he did not issue approval for the scheme.

However, Gorman commented: “If we wanted to solve the issues around fodder, we would incentivise livestock and tillage farmers to work together.”

He said there was no consultation with farm organisations on the issue. Gorman noted that if there is demand for straw that it will not be chopped, so the scheme does not need to be suspended.

Comment

It should be noted that the Department’s website states that approval for the measure would be issued in June and no notifications arrived and as harvest started, farmers naturally assumed the scheme remained in place.

They had based decisions on renting ground and keeping poor crops in the ground because the Straw Incorporation Measure remained in place.

Tillage farmers also endured that seven-month winter and longer. They have come through two difficult autumn sowing campaigns in a row, a wet harvest in 2023 and a wet spring in 2024.

Growth on tillage farms has also been affected. Yields are back and straw yields are back. Grain prices are down and this decision could interfere with the market and result in a further loss in income.