Laois man who wants to lead Ireland's farmers slams aid package for tillage farmers

The Government has demonstrated a “blatant disregard” for the future of Ireland's tillage sector through a “grossly inadequate” aid package, claims Laois IFA man and Presidential candidate Francie Gorman.

In a statement, he reacted to the announcement of the distribution of €9.53 million under the EU Agricultural Reserve which will deliver a flat rate payment of €28 per hectare or just over €11 per acre to tillage farmers.

Mr. Gorman said he was not satisfied.

“Excluding land rental charges that many tillage farmers must pay, it costs approximately 1300 per hectare or €540 per acre to grow a crop of corn. Many farmers across the country have lost their entire crop this year due to incessant poor weather conditions and under this scheme, they will only be able to recoup a maximum of 28 euro per hectare.

“The Minister and Government’s ongoing disregard for Irish agriculture is clear. No effort has been made to ascertain the level of losses being sustained by the sector and there appears to have been little if any discussions held with farming organisations on what aid package might be required,” he added.

He said the Irish tillage sector contributes more than 1.5bn annually to Irish economic output and generates 11,000 full-time jobs.

“We are a country that produces enough food to feed approximately 40 million people every year, yet a once in a generation disaster year for tillage farmers is responded to with an ineffective aid package. The announcement of the details of this aid package is being met with disbelief by the farming community which rightly feels let down yet again by this government.”

He said he has seen the problem firsthand.

“35-acres of barley belonging to a neighbouring farmer in County Laois has been almost completely lost due to the bad weather, which combined with excessive input costs brought to bear by the war in Ukraine, high land rents and declining CAP payments, is making that farmer’s business unsustainable.

"It is impossible for farmers, who produce a premium product without getting a premium price in return, to carry this on their own backs. This aid package is a devastating blow to him and other farmers across the country and risks driving them out of business.”

The aid package was announced by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue and Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity with special responsibility for Horticulture, Pippa Hackett.

Minister McConalogue said: “I have strongly supported the tillage sector throughout 2022 and 2023. I doubled the annual budget for the Protein Aid Scheme from €3m to €7m and the Tillage Incentive Scheme (TIS) resulted in payments of almost €11M to scheme applicants last year. In response to harvest difficulties this year and following on from ensuring that the upgraded annual €10M Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) became a permanent part of the CAP Strategic Plan (CSP), I also announced €7m in additional funding for SIM to ensure support for all applicants in 2023.”