Work on a pre-Budget 2025 submission regarding tillage is well advanced on the part of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) National Grain Committee.
This has been confirmed by the group’s chair, Kieran McEvoy.
He attended this week’s 2024 Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) cereal variety trials open day in Co. Cork.
McEvoy has welcomed the €100/ha support commitment already made by agriculture minister, Charlie McConalogue, for tillage farmers in 2024.
“But we need to see a five-year, strategic commitment on the part of government to tillage farmers. And this must be underpinned by an additional €250/ha support payment throughout the period,” he stressed.
According to McEvoy, Ireland’s tillage sector needs the full backing of government into the future.
“The projected 400,000ha footprint of the tillage sector remains a viable target. We did see some slippage in the area planted out this year. But, thankfully, it wasn’t as great as we thought it might be,” he continued.
“Every time we see 3-4% less cereals in the ground, this results in a lot of tillage farmers becoming unviable; their scale of operation is becoming smaller.
“A lot of tillage farmers depend on rented land to make their businesses viable.”
Tillage
McEvoy acknowledged that significant acreages of maize and fodder beet have been planted out this year.
“And I hope this works out for the farmers involved,” he commented.
“These crops add to the rotations followed on tillage farms. And obviously, it’s important that they also add to the profitability of these businesses as well.
“It’s important that more alliances are built between farmers rather than having friction between the different sectors.”
McEvoy also recognised the need for those growers committing to maize and beet to get their crops successfully harvested later in the year.
“The last thing we need is for the push towards forage crops to be a one year wonder,” he said.
“A late harvest or a sudden burst of grass growth at the back end can make maize and beet seem like very expensive crops.”
Current estimates are pointing to a 50%, or more, increase in the area of forage maize established across the island of Ireland, year-on-year.
No figures are available, as yet, for fodder beet. But here, again, the cropping area is thought to be well up on 2023.
As is always the case, weather will be the big factor in determining the harvest dates for forage crops.