“The day of cheap food is all over"
Kilbehenny farmer and chair of regional ICMSA Maurice Walsh, has welcomed the announcement by the Department of Agriculture of a €12 million targeted intervention package for the tillage sector, but with some regret that it had to ‘take a war’ to make the government look seriously at making Ireland mostly self-sustaining.
On Tuesday, Minister McConalogue brought before cabinet a proposal for a financial incentive scheme for beef farmers to grow crops. Mr Walsh, who also sits on the board of Bord Bia and the ICMSA’s dairy council, as well as chairing the North and East Cork ICMSA, was enthusiastic about the announcement but regretful of the reactive nature of the move.
“It’s a pity that it had to take a war to start this conversation. This is something that we’ve lobbied and worked for for a long time; this country should be self sufficient, there’s no two ways about it.”
“The day of cheap food is all over - farmers have to be rewarded for what we do. People have to look at the very real possibility there will be empty shelves in the last six month of this year. We’ve been told this not only by our own government, but at European level as well.”
'THE MAN THAT'S GROWING THE GRASS NEEDS TO BE REMEMBERED TOO'
Russia and Ukraine are significant sources of global cereal exports, so the price and availability of cereals globally is impacted by the situation in Ukraine and the sanctions on Russia. The proposal is to encourage farmers to grow more tillage crops, and a payment of €400 per hectare is proposed. The proposal also seeks to encourage production of protein crops like peas, beans and lupins (a form of legume).
However, Mr Walsh said again that while these moves were to be welcomed, the success of the scheme depends on the availability of costs of the inputs into the system, and the practicalities of having adequate numbers of contractors and equipment for harvest.
“It’s not only barley, oats, wheat - there might be other crops easier to grow that use less fertiliser and pesticides, and that’s should be looked at too. We welcome the news for the beef and dairy farmer, but the man that’s growing the grass needs to be remembered too.”