The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) and the Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI) are set to meet with Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris and Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon on Wednesday to discuss the pressure caused by the large increases in agri diesel prices in recent weeks.

The IFA has said that it wants the Government to review the decision made last week on the fuel support package, as it has not properly addressed issues for farmers.

IFA president Francie Gorman has said: “The excise duty reductions announced did very little to lower the cost, with a temporary five cent reduction for the sector.

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“This is simply nowhere near enough to address the issue for the farming sector as agri-diesel has increased by over 50% in recent weeks. The five cent reduction amounts to a 3% price reduction,” he added.

Intervention

The IFA has said that if the Government doesn’t intervene, the rise in agri diesel price will have a significant knock-on effect on farmer and agri contractor costs, with no room to absorb these additional costs at current margins.

Gorman said: “The inevitable result of this current fuel shock will be economic inflation, and food is massively exposed to the cost of fuel and energy. Consumers need to be aware that carbon tax is contributing to higher food costs.”

“Carbon tax currently adds 17cpl to agri diesel and is due to up by a further two cent again next month. As agricultural machinery has no alternative to using diesel, the tax cannot achieve its stated objective of encouraging the use of alternative energy,” he added.