Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not at liberty to tell the Deputy what was and was not discussed at Cabinet, but I can tell him that the Government is seized of this issue. I had an opportunity to meet with the Irish Farmers Association, IFA yesterday, alongside the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon. It raised a lot of issues, including climate action, the Common Agricultural Policy, its concerns around the dairy forum, which I share, and the problems the pig industry is facing. One of the matters raised was the very high price and cost of fertilisers, which in some cases have even trebled in cost. That is an extraordinary increase for any input and it will, in turn, increase costs for farmers. The latter can then drive up food prices, which impacts negatively on consumers. The levels of dry farming could potentially come down as well, which we do not want to happen.

While there are a number of factors at play in the market, there is unfortunately no sign of fertiliser prices easing in the short to medium term. Energy prices will remain well above January 2021 levels and increased global demand continues, particularly from the big grain-producing countries. Increased transport costs and EU-imposed tariffs on duties on certain third country imports are also adding to prices. The information we have from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine indicates that fertiliser supplies are likely to remain tight but usage is expected to be lower over the next few months in response to higher prices. From 2 February, Russia imposed a ban on ammonium nitrate exports for two months until 2 April. This will place added pressure on the availability of fertiliser, particularly calcium ammonium nitrate. The Department is continuing to monitor the situation very closely.

My colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, launched the 2022 soils, nutrients and fertiliser campaign on 26 January in response to the unprecedented rise in fertiliser prices. As part of this campaign Teagasc has put together a comprehensive information pack for farmers and their advisers with a compendium of 20 fact sheets designed to optimise the use of plant nutrients to help farmers address the challenge of maintaining their farm outputs in the face of rising fertiliser costs and reduced availability. These fact sheets cover soil testing, lime application, nitrogen use, organic manures, fertiliser spreading and many other topics that will be incredibly useful for farmers.

The European Commission is currently examining the effect on the European market of removing anti-dumping measures. A decision on this is expected shortly. If that decision is favourable, it may allow us to do something more to help.

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