Irish pig farmers who slaughtered at least 200 pigs in 2015 will soon be receiving €3,000 each as the Department of Agriculture makes a move to send out application forms for EU aid money this week.

Pig farmers were promised a slice of the €13.7m aid package announced by the EU Commission for Ireland in September last year in response to a disastrous price year for the pig and dairy sectors.

Dairy farmers received their flat rate payment of €1,350 in December 2015, and now pig farmers are due to receive their share, with each pig farmer who slaughtered at least 200 finishers or weaners in 2015 receiving a flat payment of €3,000.

Application forms for the flat-rate payment will be going out from the Department of Agriculture this week and farmers then have two weeks to send the forms back in.

Ciaran Carroll, head of the pig development department in Teagasc Moorepark, has welcomed the move by the Department to finally get application forms out to farmers.

"It's good that the Department has recognised and acknowledged the problems in the pig sector at present. The flat rate payment is probably the simplest way of delivering this much needed payment to farmers," Carroll said.

Millers must drop compound rations

Meanwhile, Teagasc, in their home milling feed monitor for February, indicate that fattener rations are costing €211/t (export). Responding to this, IFA national pigs committee chairman, Pat O'Flaherty, said that millers must drop compound rations in line with raw material.

“Those in the pig feed industry are well aware of the current difficulties being experienced by Irish pig farmers," O'Flaherty said. "Without a reduction in input costs, the situation will only get worse, threatening jobs both on farm and in the wider industry. All players in the industry must achieve a fair margin if the sector is to survive and prosper."

Currently margin over feed is 37c/kg, whereas 50c/kg is the breakeven target provided by Teagasc. O'Flaherty added that an "even more worrying statistic" is that the average margin over feed for the past five years is running at 44c/kg.

"This is proof that Irish pig farmers have been in a considerable loss-making situation for a prolonged period," he added.

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Ireland's pig industry: a sector in silent crisis