Greening measures should be postponed for at least a year. That was the view expressed by over 100 farmers attending the Meath IFA Executive in the Newgrange Hotel in Navan last night.

The scenario where farmers planting crops in the coming weeks would be forced to effectively second guess the rules and regulations around greening was described as totally unacceptable. A market update highlighted the challenges currently facing the tillage sector with farmers being offered just €155/t for dried wheat and from €147-€148/t for dried barley.

Wheat in Britain was said to be trading for as little as £112/t or the equivalent of €141/t. The importance of relooking at forward contracts as a means to help spread the risk was discussed. It was highlighted that farmers had the option of fixing at a price of €205/t for dried wheat in January 2014. The straw market was described as sluggish with slow demand both from farmers and the composting market. Undoubtedly large stocks of silage has reduced demand for straw.

Sheep prices

The report from the sheep trade was more positive with good demand reported for both lambs and ewes. ICM was said to be very active for ewes, currently requiring up to 13,000 per week. The live export market was also reported to be strong. Farmers were urged to secure payment for stock when trading off the land.

Cattle prices

The level of anger at cattle prices was somewhat more constrained than at the beef crisis meeting held in the county a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, farmers remained frustrated by the fact that despite English prices increasing in recent weeks, the Irish market remains sluggish with factories refusing to lift the base price above €3.60/kg for steers and €3.65/kg for heifers.

A number of farmers did report some of the independent factories as much more active for animals over 30 months than was the case throughout the spring. This has resulted in some of the severe price penalties on out of spec stock being eroded.

The penalties being imposed on bulls over 16 months also appears to be easing with farmers securing a price similar to what is being paid for steers.