Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This year will go down in living memory as the year that brought farmers across the country to their knees. Incessant rain has caused devastation across every county, leaving farmers and their families reeling in its wake. We have an estimated 6.9 million ha of land overall in Ireland and 64% of this land is suitable for agriculture. However, the Irish agricultural sector overall has changed in recent decades. There are now just 135,000 farms. That is down from 223,000 in 1980. The reduced availability of land is a key factor in this decline. As the country developed and cities, towns and villages spread their borders, many small farmers were swallowed up, leaving the average-sized farm at some 80-plus acres.

Ireland's farming and agricultural sector must be protected. It must be supported to enable it to survive and thrive. The security of quality food is of paramount importance. The weather in recent times has become the enemy of the farmer. The seasonal nature of farming is what keeps it turning. This past year has seen a persistent cycle of rainfall. Unprecedented levels of relentless rain have decimated countless acres of land in every county. Winter began earlier than expected. It began raining in July and has barely ceased since.

Tillage is a big issue across the country, particularly in Tipperary. The work that needs to be done is enormous but the window of opportunity is closing. The €100 per acre support announced by the Government will not meet the needs of farmers. The fact that sowing can only begin at this stage will result in much lower yields, and lower yields will mean significantly reduced income. This blow would have been far less severe had the Government's 2024 allocation for tillage farmers not been €30 million down on the 2023 allocation. Farmers are already trying to budget ahead before the winter turns sour. Small farmers are those most impacted by the current situation. Dairy, sheep and suckler farmers have been unable to put animals out on the land. They are paying through the nose for fodder, with a huge number of animals having been housed since last September instead of the usual time of late October. These animals have remained housed up to this month and it has not been possible to safely turn them out to grass. Crop management has also fallen behind and it has been impossible to get into the fields with fertilisers and sprays. Having a strict regime for this work is critical to ensuring good yields but farmers have stood in despair as days turned into weeks without being able to carry out this work. The day-to-day pattern of work for farmers has ceased to exist. One farmer was quoted recently as saying he was standing at the window looking out at the rain while holding yet another troubling bank statement in his hand.

The mental toll that this prolonged and soul-destroying weather has taken on farmers is enormous. The sense of helplessness they feel is overwhelming. They are victims of something that is completely outside of their control. They worry about what has happened this year and they have fears for the years ahead. They need help. They do not need talk of help or debates like this; what they need is real and tangible help and they need it soon. Without such help, the writing may be on the wall for many farmers across Tipperary and the rest of the country.

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