Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle and the Dáil Business Committee for scheduling these statements today and for allowing me and the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, to give an update on the real challenges facing farmers over the last few weeks and the work the Government is doing to try to support the sector and farm families through this period. We are very aware of the acute challenges experienced by farmers right across the country due to the prolonged and exceptional wet weather conditions we have been going through.

The past few months have been very challenging for farmers in all sectors. For livestock farmers, the high levels of rainfall recorded in recent months had a significant impact on getting animals out to grass, with grazing progress well behind normal. This has had a knock-on effect on feed costs. Milk yields and solids are back, affecting cashflow on some dairy farms. Wet soil conditions have also made it very difficult for machinery to travel on land which has delayed slurry and chemical fertiliser applications. On tillage farms the weather has had a significant impact on spring planting and on the management of winter crops. Planting windows have passed for some crops and are very narrow for others. This is similarly the case for horticultural farmers growing potatoes and other field-grown food crops. The weather has delayed planting for many, adding costs and risks for those in the sector.

Thankfully the weather has improved over the past week which is alleviating some of the difficulties being experienced by farmers. Turnout of livestock to grass is beginning to accelerate across farms as rainfall has returned to more normal levels and we have seen some drying out. Tillage operations and planting of field crops are gradually recommencing as soil conditions continue to improve. However, all in all, the wet weather this spring has had a very significant impact and I am extremely conscious of the pressure this is putting on farmers. I have taken a number of actions in response. In March 2022, I established the national fodder and food security committee. The remit of the committee is to prepare an industry response, contingency plans and advice to assist farmers in managing their farm enterprises through difficult periods. In recognition of the challenging weather conditions this spring, I asked the committee chairman Mr. Mike Magan, who is a dairy farmer and former chair of Animal Health Ireland, to reconvene the committee in the last few weeks. It had been meeting at regular intervals from last autumn and through the winter to routinely assess the situation but given the very long spring, I asked the committee to actively manage the situation, to establish the most up-to-date facts regarding fodder and feed supplies on farms and to provide advice to assist farmers through this very challenging period. At its meetings on 29 March and 9 April, the committee was provided with an overview of conditions across the main farm enterprises by Teagasc and other members. The committee concluded that notwithstanding the difficulties that some farmers are experiencing, there are sufficient fodder stocks in the country, either on farms or available to purchase.

Over the last two years, I have committed over €100 million to fodder support schemes which provided farmers with up to €1,000 per family farm to help them to make and conserve fodder stocks.

This has achieved its aim of successfully building up stocks on farms, meaning that despite the unprecedentedly long winter period we have just experienced, we do not have a national shortage in the country as we saw in previous difficult springs and early summers such as in 2018 and 2013.

I asked Teagasc to establish a system in recent weeks for co-ordinating advisory supports to help farmers to maximise existing fodder stocks and to provide a basis for those with surpluses to engage with those who need fodder. In response, Teagasc set up a fodder register, which is helping to connect farmers who have fodder available with those who require it. We have seen over 250 farmers contacting Teagasc since setting up the register, with the number of farmers offering fodder for sale continuing to exceed the number of farmers seeking fodder by a ratio of 2.5:1. That is a positive reflection of the level of stocks within the country, albeit with significant pressures and some shortages at individual farm level. I want to recognise the work of Teagasc and all the advisers in terms those calls and providing advice. I acknowledge advisers across the board including independent advisers who have supported farmers through this. In particular, I would like to thank Teagasc, Professor Frank O'Mara, its director, and Dr. Stan Lalor, who has led out on this in terms of co-ordinating the response, which has been most important over the last few weeks in a particularly challenging time.

To support farmers in need of fodder, I announced the introduction of a fodder transport support measure at the national fodder and food security committee meeting on 9 April. This measure was put in place to provide additional assistance to livestock farmers most severely affected by the prolonged exceptional weather conditions, who are short of fodder or indeed if fodder is scarce in a particular locality. This measure provides a key support in terms of the cost, covering a significant part of the cost of transporting fodder between areas that have availability to those areas where it is scarce. A financial contribution is being provided to farmers to contribute to a big proportion of the transport costs of hay, fodder beet, straw or silage for feeding, where distance involved is more than 75 km. Payments under the scheme are issuing through the co-ops to holdings with livestock and will be payable on fodder purchased and utilised on holdings after 1 April 2024. That is payable at a rate of €40 per tonne for loose silage, pit silage, and up to €30 a bale for round bale silage, for example. I also asked Teagasc to engage proactively with farmers and in response they set up dedicated helplines. Teagasc operated these helplines for both tillage and livestock farmers from Monday, 8 April up until last Sunday, 20 April. Initially, there were approximately 15 calls per day received from farmers across the two helplines. There were some farmers in difficult circumstances, and they were given advice and support through the helplines. Thankfully, with the improvement in weather conditions over the past week, calls to the helplines subsided almost entirely towards the end of last week.

Ground conditions have been improving over the past week and there is a good supply of grass. Teagasc are advising farmers to target at least one daily grazing in the diet where possible. Teagasc is also advising a focus on managing the grass supply in the days and weeks ahead where some very high covers of grass may need early silage harvest. Farmers are also being encouraged to think ahead towards next winter in terms of closing areas for silage and fertilising appropriately, to build fodder reserves.

I am also very conscious of the importance of the timelines of payments to farmers. We are among the best in Europe in issuing payments rapidly and we are committed to continuing this for this year and every year. For this reason, I acted decisively earlier this year as regards the issue of payments in terms of the ACRES scheme, which had seen a delay in for a significant number of farmers in receiving their payments. I responded to farmers' concerns and pressure in relation to those payments being awaited by taking the practical step - the first time this has been done - of issuing of a nationally funded interim payment to all ACRES farmers who had not received their payment in the normal course of events up to that time. It was paid at €4,000 for those farmers participating in ACRES in general, and at €5,000 to those participating in the ACRES co-operative scheme. Through that, a total of just under €120 million was paid to over 25,000 ACRES participants by mid-March. Since October, we have seen €1.8 billion in payments flow into our rural areas and this will continue annually over the course of this CAP programme.

Furthermore, I meet with the main banks regularly on access to finance issues for the agri-food sector. I have impressed upon them the need to show forbearance with farmers where cash flow issues are emerging in response to difficulties. I also asked them to ensure access to short-term finance and overdraft facilities where needed to deal with the pressure arising from the exceptional weather conditions. In this regard, I welcome recent announcements of support from two of the main pillar banks. I also want to acknowledge the supports put in place by the co-ops for their suppliers and customers. Interest-free credit schemes, feed price rebates and milk price top-ups are welcome and will help farmers through this challenging time. I appreciate that co-ops and merchants are supporting farmers with good technical advice on the best options for dealing with the individual circumstances faced by each farmer.

On the tillage sector, the exceptional weather conditions at the back end of 2023 and into this spring have created significant difficulties for tillage farmers. Autumn sowings were reduced to an estimated 80,000 ha, which represents 62% of the three-year average area from 2021 to 2023 of 130,000 ha. Teagasc estimates that circa 11% of these crops may even need to be replanted. The recent prolonged wet weather has had a significant impact on spring planting with very little spring crops planted up until last week. However, tillage operations and the planting of spring crops are recommencing as soil conditions continue to improve. It was certainly the case in Donegal and around my home area over the past few days that the tractors were going from early morning into all hours of the evening as conditions started to improve. Thankfully, there is still a planting window for crops, although it is narrowing. It does bring additional risk in relation to the late time of sowing and plantation compared to the norm. I want to give confidence to tillage farmers to plant crops this year and to give them confidence in the future of the sector and the Government's commitment to work with them to see the sector maintained and growing in the years ahead. Recognising the current difficulties, I have given a clear commitment to tillage farmers to deliver €100 per hectare in financial support for every farmer who puts seed in the soil for harvest 2024. I am absolutely committed to increasing our tillage area. Despite the constraints and challenges of my existing budget, I will work to ensure we deliver on that commitment of €100 per hectare to all farmers who plant this year for this year's harvest.

Significant additional support was provided for tillage farmers at the back end of last year where we had seen high input prices, reduced output prices and adverse weather that affected yields. Over the course of last year, the supports we put in place for the tillage sector included a more than doubling of direct supports for protein aid from €3 million to €7 million under the CAP strategic plan. I further topped that up last year to €10 million given the challenges the sector faced last year. The straw incorporation measure provided €16.5 million for tillage farmers last year, while the tillage incentive scheme provided €8 million of support. I also secured €7 million in the autumn from the EU agricultural reserve to support the tillage sector. I topped that up with a further €7 million, which was secured in the most recent budget. These funds were paid out in January this year to support growers with unharvested crops by way of an unharvested crop support scheme, which was paid at a rate of €1,000 per hectare of unharvested crops, with the remaining funds being used as a once-off flat rate payment at a rate of €50 per hectare for areas of oilseed rape and cereal crops that were planted last year.

In order to support the sector this spring, last month I announced an exemption to the crop diversification element of GAEC 7, easing concerns for tillage farmers by allowing them to pick the crops that best suit their circumstances, taking into account time of sowing, market returns and seed availability.

The adverse weather has also had an impact on the horticulture sector. Following the difficult harvesting conditions in many regions last year, potato growers had smaller volumes of potatoes - less than 40% - remaining to be harvested at the end of February. Despite this, potato prices were very strong and remain so. The recent and prolonged wet weather has delayed the planting of potatoes and other field-grown food crops. I want to give confidence to these growers to plant crops this year. Similar to tillage growers, it is my commitment to provide a €100 per hectare payment in support of potato and field vegetable growers who plant crops for harvesting in 2024.

Significant additional support was provided to the horticulture sector last year. Members will recall that I secured just over €2.5 million in funding under the EU agricultural reserve for the sector in recognition of the challenges in some areas for fruit and vegetable production. To help to address the difficulties faced by the mushroom and potato sectors following the departure of the UK from the EU, a number of schemes and initiatives were developed under the Brexit adjustment reserve, with almost €9 million available last year through these schemes. The scheme of investment aid for the development of the commercial horticulture sector grant aids capital investments in specialised plant and equipment in the horticulture sector. That scheme provided significant support to growers last year through a budget of €10 million, which is in place again this year. Last year, funding of €6 million was available and paid under the EU producer organisation scheme for fruit and vegetable growers, which is important.

It has been a really challenging spring. In the last week, thankfully, each day over the past few days since the weekend has seen the situation becoming relieved. We hope that will continue. Certainly the indications in terms of the meteorology is that it will continue to provide that window. A big part of the support that farmers received came from the local community, including neighbouring farmers. That is really important because farming can be a solitary profession when there are real pressures and challenges, such as those of recent weeks. Other people might have a boss to report to, people at work to come in and share their problems with, or people with whom they can work together on challenges in the workplace. When they arrive at work in the morning, they have somebody greet them. A farmer who is involved in tillage, dairy or dry stock often has to carry alone the burdens at the farm gate and those that come with weather challenges. They do not necessarily have people to share them with. That is challenging and difficult, particularly when it is not clear what the coming days and weeks might hold or when those pressures might become relieved.

It is important that farmers support one another and those around them at this time. It is important that farmers share the challenges and burdens they have with those around them, with family and with neighbours. It is important that people reach out to neighbours, neighbouring farms and farmers that might be under pressure. That has been happening. That has been the major support in relation to fodder challenges for example. Farmers who have a surplus have worked at local level to support those who might be under pressure. Likewise, our objective at Government level has been to respond as best we can from a policy and financial point of view and to provide breathing space. We have done that through the different measures I outlined. Hopefully the weather will provide a more benevolent environment for us over the coming weeks and months to allow the harvest and growing conditions to be good. That remains to be seen. As a Government, we will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide the necessary support, as we have been doing.

My final message is for everyone to mind themselves, keep an eye on safety and watch out in the days and weeks ahead, as so much work is ongoing. The hours can be long and the pressure can be great as the catch-up gets under way at farm level. It is important that concentration remains high and that people mind themselves and those around them. I thank the Ceann Comhairle and the Business Committee for scheduling this debate today. I thank my team, Louise Byrne and Barry O'Reilly, who are here today, and the Department officials who have worked hard on this. I also thank Teagasc, including Dr. Frank O'Mara and his team and Mike Magan of the national fodder and food security committee. They will continue to play an important role in the time ahead. I thank my ministerial colleagues, the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, and the Minister of State, Senator Hackett. Most of all, I give thanks to those in the farming community who have worked hard and supported one another over the recent period. We will do all within our capacity to support them through this.