Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The amount of rainfall we have been experiencing over recent months has pushed the agriculture sector to a crisis point. We have seen almost ten months of almost non-stop rainfall and farms are saturated. A few days' break is not enough for fields to dry out.

This has been an absolutely devastating time for farmers across all sectors. Some livestock farmers are having to provide supplementary feed for much longer periods than expected as animals remain indoors. Slurry tanks are at capacity and farmers’ silage and fodder stocks are depleted. Many are struggling to afford to buy additional silage and fodder needed to feed their animals. In addition, there is a reduction in beef prices. The IFA last week called out factories for attempting to take advantage of the weather difficulties beef farmers are facing by trying to pull prices. The current prices are more than 10 cent per kg behind this time last year while beef prices in the UK are running 12 cent per kg ahead of last year. Factories in the North are actually paying more for our cattle than factories here and there is absolutely no justification for that. Farmers are under an immense amount of pressure at the moment and cannot be expected to spend all their time arguing with factories over insultingly low beef prices. I have consistently called for reform of the meat processing sector, including a statutory beef regulator that can deal with the industry once and for all. The Minister’s claims a food regulator would cut it have proven hollow. The beef tribunal in the early 1990s highlighted widespread improper relationships between the beef industry and Government. It also stressed the lack of regulation and the impact it had on the sector. Thirty years later we have not seen any changes. The system is still designed to enrich the beef barons while small farms fade away and young farmers have no choice but to pursue other careers.

The financial pressure on small farms is always immense. Cash flow is incredibly tight. This is also putting a huge strain on farmers in terms of stress and confidence in the viability of their farms going forward. Potato farmers are currently working round the clock to get crops planted during this brief dry spell. By mid-April potato growers would usually have planted 21,000 acres, but on Sunday, Seán Ryan, chair of the potato committee of the IFA, estimated only around 50 acres had been planted so far. These sustained wet periods and droughts are here to stay. Our weather patterns are changing and we have to adapt to them. When it comes to the potato sector, the rooster crop developed by Teagasc makes up most of the market. It also has a very long growing season that is just not compatible with the wet weather and later planting seasons we are experiencing. Tillage has probably been one of the sectors hit worst by the long period of wet weather. The ground and the majority of fields cannot carry any form of machinery at the moment and farmers are now facing the hard decision of whether to risk sowing or leave land fallow.

There is a limited window to sow crops and it is looking near impossible to plant certain ones. The ideal planting period for beans, winter wheat and oats has passed and the window is rapidly closing on being able to get any form of viable crop. When harvest times are delayed, there is a very significant reduction in yield and quality. The head of Teagasc's crop knowledge department, Michael Hennessy, has stated that 70% to 80% of all tillage crops would normally be planted at this stage but, this year, almost nothing has been done as far as spring crops are concerned.

Tillage is a highly important part of our agrifood sector and the rural economy and its future is in danger. Tillage production is currently limited to only about 7% of all agricultural land according to a report published yesterday by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland and Teagasc. Farmers are suggesting that there could be a drop of up to 11% in the acreage used for tillage this year following a 7% drop in 2023. This cannot become a trend year on year. That would mean the destruction of the tillage sector. A UCD report from 2020 shows that the Irish tillage sector generates €1.3 billion in economic outputs and supports 11,000 jobs and that is nowhere near the tillage sector's full potential. The sector also has the lowest greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture. In many cases, it is already carbon neutral.

We should be doing everything we can to support sectors like the tillage sector, which is crucial to our food security and climate action, but despite all of this the sector is just not being supported properly and tillage farmers are under more severe pressure than ever before. The announcement of a €100 per hectare tillage payment to deal with immediate pressure is very welcome but it just does not go far enough. Farming organisations are clear that, in order to prevent farmers from leaving tillage entirely, a payment of €250 per hectare would be required. The year 2023 was devastating for tillage with difficult weather, high fuel and fertiliser costs and a significant fall in grain prices. Teagasc has estimated that tillage farm incomes for 2023 are expected to reduce to €37,000, a drop of 54% on the previous year. The overall drop in Irish tillage farmers' incomes equates to more than €260 million in 2023 when compared to 2022.

The State set out plans to grow tillage to a target of 400,000 ha by 2023 but, so far, the Government's plan is failing abysmally. This cannot all be blamed on the weather. Tillage farmers are finding it extremely difficult to rent land as other farmers, especially those adjusting to changes in the nitrates derogation, have the capacity to pay more to lease land. Tillage farmers are being priced out. They simply cannot compete.

We need to be innovative in ensuring that the tillage sector has a viable future. We need to look at measures like crop insurance for farmers, something that is common across Europe. They need interventions to enable them to compete in renting land and the Minister needs to address the policies that are forcing dairy farmers to consistently use more and more land. The Government's tillage incentive scheme did lead to an increase in the area under tillage but this was mainly of advantage to non-tillage farmers. This was especially demoralising as farmers who invested in tillage could not get the benefits of that scheme.

Increased Irish production of cereals, pulses, fruit and vegetables would make Irish agriculture more environmentally friendly, would support Irish producers and would improve our food security. Pivoting to tillage will be a challenge to the sector but it needs to happen. We need to shift our entire agricultural sector to support farmers and producers while improving food security in the long term. The weather patterns we are experiencing are a direct result of climate change. We cannot shy away from that. The climate and biodiversity crises are the single biggest threat to the future of farming. We have to help and support farmers to adapt to changing weather patterns and support them through the challenges they will face with a changing climate. Exceptional needs payments, while welcome, do not recognise the reality and the performance of the challenges farmers are facing. If we do not adapt our farming practices and supports, it will be absolutely devastating for future generations of farmers and for our country's food security.

We need to open up a conversation about the future of agriculture in this country. The farming community knows that better than anyone else. There is an opportunity here for an exciting transformation of our farming model but we have to be brave and honest enough to have that conversation. It was absolutely disgraceful for this Government to row back on the dairy reduction scheme, one of the recommendations of the final report of the Food Vision dairy group. We need to shift to a more sustainable model of farming and part of that is the need to gradually reduce the number of cattle. The same Department that incentivised farmers to increase their herds must incentivise farmers to reduce them. The Government needs to support more sustainable farming models rather than forcing farmers into more intensive methods just to make ends meet. This results in farming communities being blamed for poor Government policy and its impact on the environment. It is the overwhelming view of the scientific community that the agriculture sector will need to reduce emissions by 30% before 2030. Pushing back against that in order to keep the status quowill mean a sudden and difficult transition for family farms around the country as they have to change their practices. To avoid that, we must start now.

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