Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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409. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans to deal with the pending fodder crisis within the farming community; the details of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51622/17]

Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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410. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department has carried out an analysis to identify the areas which will be most affected by the pending fodder crisis within the farming community; the areas identified to be at risk as a result; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51623/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 409 and 410 together.

It is clear that weather conditions for much of the autumn and into early winter have been challenging for farmers, particularly in the Western and North-Western regions and on heavier land types. The poor weather resulted in cattle being housed earlier than normal in places, it also affected late cut silage making operations.

My Department in conjunction with Teagasc have been closely monitoring the winter fodder situation across the country. The current position is that there appears to be adequate supplies of fodder in the form of silage and hay available across the country. However, there are particular areas in the Western and North-Western regions experiencing fodder scarcities as a result of the earlier housing and silage making difficulties.

My Department actively engaged Teagasc to work locally in these areas experiencing fodder difficulties. Teagasc has been providing support and advice to farmers on fodder budgeting for the winter ahead, including how best to address where stocks are inadequate.

The European Commission agreed to my request for an increase in the advance payment of the 2017 Basic Payment Scheme as well as an increase in the advance payments under our Rural Development Programme. This has been prompted by the inclement weather conditions and also market difficulties caused by currency fluctuations. This means an increase from 50% to 70% in the rate for the BPS to those applicants whose applications were confirmed fully clear and an increase to 85% in the case of RDP schemes.

Issuing of these BPS advance payments commenced after the 15th October and balancing payments are issuing this week. The Roll-out of balancing payments brings the total paid under the Basic Payment Scheme to €1.106bn to approximately 121,000 farmers. Payments on RDP schemes are also ongoing and last week we paid out close to €100m on our main agri-environment schemes which follows significant payments under the Areas of Natural Constraints Scheme, the Sheep Welfare Scheme and the Knowledge Transfer scheme. Overall, at this stage, over €1 billion has issued to Irish farmers in recent weeks. These payments will make a significant improvement to farmers’ cashflow at this time of year and will undoubtedly help to finance additional fodder and feed purchase where necessary.

My Department and Teagasc are continuing to closely monitor the situation.