Midland Farmer - Spring 2024

6 MIDLAND FARMER
Spring 2024
DAFM: Over 50,000t
of organic feed
needed next winter
Government accused of lack of
support towards dairy sector
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture,
Food and the Marine, Pippa Hackett
announced last Tuesday, February 20 that
over 50,000 tonnes of organic feed is needed to
meet requirements for next winter 2024/2025.
The minister made the announcement on the
back of the results of an organic feed survey
that indicates “growing demand” for organic
feed of all types.
A total of 912 organic farmers participated in
the survey, which is approximately 25% participation
rate among the cohort of farmers in
organics before the 2024 intake.
Based on the replies, it is estimated that overall
demand for concentrates will be in the region
of 33,000 tonnes.
Demand could be in the region of 20,000 tonnes
for straights, 6,000 tonnes for protein crops (such
as a pea/barley mix), and for 50,000 bales of fodder.
Minister Hackett said: “Organics and tillage
have been highlighted in FoodVision as an
opportunity for farmers.
“These results show the growing demand for
organic feed and the opportunity to increase the
area of organic tillage in Ireland. There is an
opportunity for an organic Irish mill as the sector
continues to grow.”
The survey took place against the background
of a significant increase in organic farmer numbers
and area over the past couple of years.
Farmer numbers doubled to 4,000 in 2023, with
another 1,000 farmers joining the Organic Farming
Scheme in 2024.
Organic land will reach 5% of overall agricultural
area in 2024, and is well on target to
achieve 10% by 2030, as set out in Ireland’s Climate
Action Plan.
The chair of the Irish
Farmers’ Association
(IFA) Dairy Committee
has accused the government
of a lack of support
for the dairy sector.
Stephen Arthur said that
farmers with herds of
between 40-60 cows are
under pressure to comply
with regulations coming
from the European Union,
particularly around nitrates
and water quality.
“We have a department of
agriculture that seems to
be willing to carry out the
instructions of European
policy.
“They seem to be a pro-
European policy department
and they don’t
understand the consequences
of these policies
inside the farm gate.
“You take a guy there
with 60 cows and he has
everything done, everything
proper. He has to
gather up maybe 10, 12 or 14
acres to keep his cows, to
keep where he is, and he
has to pay €330-400/ac for it,
just to hold onto what he
has,” he told farming website
Agriland.
Arthur said that the dairy
farm is the “main fabric of
rural Ireland” but it is
being “obliterated” by government
policy.
“Teagasc has shown that
reducing the stocking rate
from 250kg [N per ha] to
220kg will have very little,
if any, impact on water
quality. Yet it has a massive
impact on farm incomes,
especially the smaller
farms,” Arthur added.
He also said that farmers
are annoyed about the environmental
impact of a possible
25% increase in
passenger numbers at
Dublin Airport which is
currently being considered
by council planners.
“Farmers are quite
aggrieved over this. They
feel that the dairy cow is
paying for everything.
“They’re paying for the
expansion of the cap in
Dublin Airport, they’re
also paying for the rectifying
of water quality and
getting to the [emissions]
levels for greenhouse gases
(GHGs),” he said.
The IFA chair said that
dairy farmers should be
able to avail of grants of
70% under the Targeted
Agriculture Modernisation
Schemes (TAMS) for
enhanced slurry storage
facilities.
“Rather than making
more regulations to make
more people non-compliant,
let’s do a system to get
everybody compliant, get
the capacity built up where
we can manage the nutrients
on the farms,” he said.
In order for farmers to
keep calves on farms
longer, Arthur said they
should be allowed to claim
VAT back on calf feeders
and drafting units, while
farmers rearing calves
should be paid €100/animal.
He added that carbon
taxes should be used to
incentivise the early
slaughter of cattle.
Arthur said that 2022 was
a particularly successful
year in Irish dairy farming
with an average income of
over €150,000. However,
since then milk prices have
tumbled from record highs
against the backdrop of
volatile global markets.
“That’s my fear that we
had one really good year
and based on one year’s
economics we are going to
devise the policy of dairy
farming going forward in
the future. I think that’s
wrong.
“Look at this year, we’ve
farmers there with big cash
flow issues, income is way
down,” Arthur said.
“Farmers have €1.2 billion
euro invested and borrowed
on their farms,
interest rates are gone
through the roof. They’re
constantly spending just to
hold on to where they are.
“It’s frustrating for any
farmer that’s out there. The
two kinds of phone calls
we’re getting is the guy
who cannot get the land to
rent because he can’t compete
in the market and the
other guy who just wants to
get out,” he added.
DAIRY EXIT SCHEME
The IFA Dairy chair said
there is a “strong appetite”
among farmers for a dairy
reduction or exit scheme.
However, he believes that
Minister for Agriculture
Charlie McConalogue may
not bring such a measure
forward.
“Why would he bring in a
scheme when he’s taking
the cows out for nothing,
his policies are taking the
cows out for nothing. Why
would you put money into a
scheme when you have a
tool, a blunt object called
the nitrates directive?
“The dairy milk cheque
has been so important to
small rural communities
the length and breadth of
the country, European policy
is just slowly eroding
that,” Arthur explained.
“The policies that they
are bringing in, it’s just
destroying the rural communities
of milking cows,
of family farms.
“We’ve a [farmer] age profile
heading for 60 years of
age. In five or six years’
time I can see lots of dairy
farmers gone out of business.
They don’t want to be
there, they’re tired of milking
cows and want to get
out,” he added.
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