IN THE NAME OF THE FODDER
THE wettest March on record has left farmland saturated and farmers fearing shortages of potatoes and fodder.
Agriculture experts yesterday warned that huge swathes of the country’s farmland is like soup after the unprecedented rainfall.
They fear fodder - dried hay or straw for cattle and other livestock – will be in short supply and revealed that the rain means only 50 acres of every 21,000 have been planted with potatoes this year.
It signals the prospect of potato shortages in supermarkets later in the year and price increases – just like last year when the harvest was one of the most difficult in recent memory.
Many growers left potatoes in the ground as conditions prevented harvesting and some fear shops will this year import stock from other countries.
Empty
This year could otherwise see more “empty shelves”, according to Irish Farmers’ Association’s National Potato chairperson Sean Ryan.
He said yesterday: “The situation is going to be very tight and there probably will be empty shelves in supermarkets by the end of the year.”
He added: “There were 700 acres that were not harvested at all last year and most of them were damaged with frost, so they are gone out of the equation.”
He revealed that neither the usual early planting in February nor the main crop planting in mid-March could go ahead.
Met Eireann said moderately or poorly drained soils will be waterlogged and all other soils will be saturated due to heavy rainfall.
Rainfall amounts last month were
140% compared to normal, while volumes reached 211% at Phoenix
Park and 219% at Dublin Airport.