AFTER A TOUGH year of relentless rain that cost farmers thousands in unharvested crops, the sector is welcoming renewed support from the government.
Farmers can apply for €1,000 per hectare of ruined crops for up to 20 hectares as part of a targeted scheme announced by Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue this week.
More than €7 million will be allocated to the fund that aims to partially recoup losses incurred by heavy rainfall.
Wexford tillage farmer John Murphy says that the funding is welcome, but that it won’t adequately compensate some farmers whose unharvested crops cover more than 20 hectares.
The Irish Farmers’ Association has been lobbying government for months now after a long year of subpar weather conditions.
Last Autumn many crops weren’t sold and Murphy says it only went downhill from there.
“It was a kind of12-month period of bad weather, or bad weather events, that has led to the problem,” he said.
Murphy has 100 acres, or roughly 40 hectares, of unharvested grain. “That’s a major loss.”
He said he got his maize harvested this month, but it was “tough going”.
August of this year was the nail in the coffin for many.
“August being so unsettled really is what destroyed the thing – not that we were getting a big volume of rain, but we were getting constant wet days,” Murphy explained.
“A combine in August would cut twice as much in a day as it would cut in September,” he said, but “combines just couldn’t travel on heavy land”.
The additional government funds come from the €8 million once-off Ukraine related funding provided in Budget 2024 for the tillage sector.
The ‘Grain from Ukraine’ initiative was set up to help counter the war’s impact on food supplies.
Murphy said that it’s a “positive move”, and while the funding won’t cover all losses, “95% of farmers with unharvested crops will be compensated in some shape or form”.
The targeted Unharvested Crop Support Scheme is accepting applications until 24 November. Payments will be made in January.
Staying in the sector
For Murphy, any financial support he receives this year will be put into the “hole of debt” from the bad harvest.
The precariousness of the sector, between weather and cuts in government payments, is making tillage farmers think twice about committing to another year or passing the family business on to the next generation.
“It’s very hard to see it staying viable,” Murphy said.
“I’d need three good years of tillage to make up for what I lost this year.”
Murphy wants to see the government show the same backing for the tillage industry as it has for beef and dairy.
He suggested an insurance scheme to help cover farmers through the ups and downs.
“If they want a vibrant tillage industry in this country, they’re going to have to support it,” he said.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to go hungry … but I will become unviable if this continues.”
So how will a bad harvest impact consumers when they go to buy groceries over the coming months?
Murphy is confident shoppers won’t immediately feel the pinch, as he expects companies will import any ingredients they’re short.
“They’ll always import it cheaper, and that’s why grain farmers would be very irate a lot of the time,” he said.
Much of what will be lost in Ireland this year is feed grain for livestock, and he believes the quality could be lower if it’s imported from abroad. “[Here] we can produce a far safer, better feed for animals that’s traceable from one end to the other.”
Murphy is concerned about companies using importing as a long-term strategy.
“On a bigger picture, across the world food security – within Europe, within world trade, whatever it may be – if that’s not looked after, the shop shelves will go scarce and that’s when it will get to you,” he said.
“I’d be more worried about scarcity than it getting dear.”
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