Budget pilot scheme could pose disease threat for cereal growers and be the final straw for some beef farmers

We have been busy over the last week as we complete harvesting the maize that we grow on contract for dairy farmers.

It held up fairly well through the summer storms and it was a good standing crop with just a small bit of twisting visible so harvesting has been a fairly rapid operation.

Autumn sowing is now in full swing between the showers and crops are being planted into some nice seedbeds.

I was putting the last of the maize into the clamp with the tractor and the push of rake as I listened on the tractor radio to Paschal Donohoe deliver his budget speech last week.

There is some good news in it for farmers overall and the €10m for tillage farmers is a welcome boost, even if it is a pilot environmental measure. Drilling down to what tillage farmers have to do to receive some of these funds, we can see that the main requirement is that we have to chop our straw as we harvest our cereals in the summer months.

This straw must then be ploughed in to the soil to capture the carbon value. Many of the min-till cultivators working around the country would be more than capable of mixing this straw to a very high standard so hopefully some sense will also prevail over this as a solid method of incorporation.

I think it’s good that the

Government has reached out to tillage farmers in the budget, but there are a few very important issues that haven’t been addressed.

What will be the consequence of taking large areas of straw and chopping it? For a start, straw is likely to trade at a higher price.

There will be an immediate knock-on effect for beef farmers who are really struggling with high input costs and a low output price for their beef. I don’t think they can pay any more for straw.

The reality is if we take away a large chunk of straw from the local market, others will see an opportunity to bring in more imported straw from Britain.

This is a serious threat to our entire cereal sector as Britain is awash with Blackgrass-affected farmland.

Biosecurity

There is evidence that the movement of straw grown in the east of England to northern areas, where livestock production is more intensive, aided the spread of Blackgrass across the country.

The Blackgrass seeds blew off from the truck loads of straw in transit and grew in the fields beside the motorways.

We have very little biosecurity at our ports and port staff are not currently in a position to check loads of straw coming through the ports for Blackgrass.

Many tillage farmers have embraced cover crops over the last few years after seeing members of BASE Ireland using them to improve their soil structures and prevent run-off of valuable nutrients over the winter months.

This is hugely important in keeping our streams and rivers free from excess nitrates, leading to better water quality and generally keeping the soil alive when not growing the next crop for harvest.

Of course, many farmers now grow cover crops as part of their GLAS measures.

It may have been a better idea to link the €10m in the budget to cover crops given the many positives of cover crops for the environment.

Seeing as the Green Party are part of the coalition, it seems strange to me that this option was not considered.

Back on our farm it was great to see the teamwork from the tractor drivers and others involved in the maize harvesting.

Sometimes the youth of today don’t get enough praise for the skill they show and the long hours they spend on this type of work.

Meanwhile, my youngest son Killian stared rugby training in Tullow recently so I have been busy spending time with him practicing at night when I get back from a day’s work on the farm.

He is mighty strong for an eight year old, There could be another Tullow Tank in the making!

More straw imports from the UK would be a serious threat to our entire cereal sector it is awash with Blackgrassaffected land

Kevin Nolan grows cereals and maize in Grangeford, Co Carlow