At a last week’s Fianna Fáil national executive meeting, Nelius Cotter from Castletownroche took the opportunity to call for an exceptional aid reserve fund for the tillage sector in the upcoming budget.
This fund, which the EU commission has allocated Ireland with €9.5 million from the Agricultural reserve, is earmarked to support farmers in times of adverse weather, high input costs and market related issues, “all of which the tillage sector have been hit hard with this harvest.”
As well as the EU Commission Agri Reserve Fund, member states can put matching funding of up to 200% with that money.
He added: “The sector which is in a crisis situation on the ground due to poor crop yields, unprecedently high input costs, straw yields back 40% and more, and the collapse in the price of grain, many tillage farmers will struggle to clear overdrafts and merchant credit. It’s critical for the survival of tillage farmers that government put the money in place.”
Concluding, Mr Cotter said: “With Dairygold setting the price for grain next week, it’s essential that all farmers lobby their local Dairygold board member, to ensure as high a price as possible, to keep the sector alive.”
