The weather has improved somewhat this week and tillage farmers – mainly in the east and south – have had some dry hours back-to-back in order to harvest grain and keep moisture levels less than 21.5%. Unbelievably, or maybe understandably, there is little or no talk among farmers about the actual price of grain. Given the hardship on farm, it’s almost secondary. A few hours of sunshine is almost more valuable to a farmer that has had three to four times the normal rainfall in July.

Yes, it is only the second week of August and many farmers will recount previous bad experiences of harvest difficulties into September and October. However, if last year was the near perfect year, then 2023 is nearly the complete opposite. Exceptionally high costs, an exceptional price downswing all compounded by wet weather at harvest time. This all culminates in a significant financial and mental strain on tillage farmers.

It’s often difficult for other farmers to appreciate or understand what the 10,000 farmers that have crops feel unless you stand in a field of wheat or barley with secondary green growth, blackening straw and soft underfoot conditions.

A cattle and sheep farmer can bring stock home from the mart, a dairy farmer sells milk every second day of the year. However, a grain farmer will harvest once per year and in the main when the crop is ripe it starts to deteriorate every day after that. Ever-increasing quality standards and more limited management tools mean crop husbandry is challenged as the crop matures.

Offering support

Of course, there is nothing we can do about the weather but there is support that farmers can bring to other farmers in many ways. It might be as simple as a phone call. Leaving aside the financial black hole, the mental health and stress associated with a poor harvest shouldn’t go unnoticed. Yes, it’s the life of a farmer – more specifically a tillage farmer –but should it be the farmer that takes all the risk?

In good faith, farmers sow the grain, manage the crop and reap the rewards from a few dry days in July and August. When it all goes wrong, the annual workload can all go for nothing and maybe even cost more than the output. While this was acceptable 50 years ago when we had significant production advances – is it acceptable in this day and age?

As modern European consumers cry out for local produce, low carbon intensity and intricate knowledge of all management practices, are we setting the standards and quality bar too high for seasons like we have in 2023?

The reality is the 2023 spring barley crop will have cost over €200/ha more to grow than in 2022, the crop yields look to be down at least 25%, and price will likely be back €100/tonne. Penalties for crop quality will likely further reduce the price actually paid.

Winter feed

The tillage concerns are not to belittle the problems other farmers are incurring where winter feed has been destroyed by flooding or where cattle have been housed. However, by and large, a winter feed crop is only part of the annual return. A crop of grain and straw is almost everything for a tillage farmer. How should or could tillage farmers be compensated?

Very clearly, the cost of production and economic output can easily be established. Surely there will be calls for a crisis aid fund or a tillage compensation fund as the numbers are realised. Are tillage farmers too despondent yet to engage in this way?

In England, we see farmers actively shifting away from producing grain and moving to leave land idle in environmental stewardship programmes.

Searching for solutions

So, what solutions are possible? Yes, Ireland accounts for only 1% of EU cereal production but it is a major contributor to our grass-based livestock sector and the food and drinks sector. A premium similar in scale to the €70 per tonne malting premium over feed grains needs to be established for much more of the Irish grain crop.

The ongoing drive for novel varieties, better nutrient utilisation, better pest, weed and lodging capability is absolutely necessary to keep pace with the increased climate and EU legislative obstacles that ultimately challenge the competitiveness and therefore the sustainability of Irish tillage farms. We can’t expect Irish tillage farmers to continue to do what they do for the wellbeing of other Irish farming sectors in the face of global competition that has competitive advantages.

We must recognise the Tillage Incentive Scheme, Protein Aid, and the Straw Incorporation Measure have enabled recovery in the sector since 2021. However, 2023 looks more like the sector will need a crisis fund to compensate farmers if we are to maintain the existing area in 2024, not to speak of growing it.