Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is nonsense to say nothing is being done about this by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine or by the Minister. They have been very proactive in dealing with the fodder crisis, which principally arose from the very cold and bad weather that has been unusual this year and has had a direct impact on the input costs for farmers having to buy feedstuff. The lack of fine weather has also severely impacted grass growth. Teagasc figures show bad weather resulted in a drop in family income by 15% in 2012 to €25,483. That is still 10% ahead of the 2010 figure. It is clear from the survey that the increase in input expenditure was brought about by poor weather, everyone understands that. Gross output declined by less than 1% on average, while total production costs increased by 9%. In addition, expenditure on concentrate feed was up by 30% and bulk feed by 28%.

These are input costs that have arisen because of the bad weather. Clearly, the Government has been acutely aware of the crisis facing farmers over fodder.

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