The intention stated by the Minister for Agriculture 10 days ago to increase grain production in Ireland in 2022 seems to have become highly diluted following the meeting with farm organisations last week. The stated focus has moved from grains to fodder and food.
While food is undoubtedly a genuine objective in self-sufficiency and security, governments might have done more to heed what has been happening in this regard for the past few decades. We have effectively lost our milling industry, the sugar industry is gone, potatoes are constantly plagued by cheaper imports and our vegetable-producing sector is shrinking weekly due to price pressures, also driven by cheaper imports.
We claim, or at least somebody claims, that we can feed 40m people while in reality we would probably be hard pressed to provide a sound balanced diet for more than one million of our own population.
Policies seemed to be far more focused on ways to have access to things like imported strawberries all year round than towards encouraging consumers to enjoy the seasonality of local foods. Now we may pay for this indifference.
A wake-up call
Now the wake-up call has come but is it too late? The livestock sector is being forced to recognise that two-thirds of the concentrate feed it uses is imported and that this is now subject to availability concerns, as well as price issues.
Imports of feeds have traditionally been used because they were cheaper and that has led to a reduction in internal production and an increasing dependence on imports. And this is happening despite the fact that we market much of our produce as being grass-fed (which it should be).
The tillage sector has helped with the production of forage at times in the past when there was fodder scarcity. But, for that, there was neither thanks nor recognition and the pressure on acres continued. If this country wants to have a viable tillage sector to produce both food and feed, then the policy approach must be more positive and active going forward.
Current Government policy states a wish to stabilise or increase tillage area but yet we see ongoing pressure on cropped acres as a counteracting measure for forage production and nitrates alleviation.
No simple solution
We must all acknowledge that it is not a simple task to instantly increase the area sown to crops but it is equally interesting that grains were not seen as a potential solution to the problems that may face the livestock sector.
That said, it is the monogastric sector that depends heavily on grains while no ruminant need die of hunger due to the unavailability of concentrate feed. Yet, they are widely used to help profit.
The fact is that we are importing around four million tonnes of feed ingredients annually to produce around six million tonnes of feed for livestock. Some of this is whole grains but much of it is the by-product of whole grains or oilseeds and availability into the future has become a concern. The cessation of exports from Ukraine and the banning of imports from Russia effectively removes 25% (100mt) from the volume of grain traded globally. This is driving panic in markets as buyers scramble for alternative supplies. If this amount of grain goes missing, someone in the world may have to go without.
Tackling availability
There are three issues that need to be tackled from this wake-up call.
We need some level of increased native production of feed grains because the sector is increasingly being forced towards premium markets and away from feed commodities where there is no recognition of the benefits of native production.We should look at ways of decreasing overall feed usage to help offset our dependence on a range of imported feedstuffs.We need to take a serious look at our lack of basic food production, the absence of any serious flour milling capacity and encourage real opportunities for vegetable producers with preference given to native production.Increased supply
Even if increased grains are not the priority of farm organisations for 2022, they should be a priority for the country in the national interest.
Most in the tillage sector do not want another once-off fix as a means to generating a spike in production. The sector needs adjustments that persist into the future. Yet, it is possible that the EU will consider moves to increase internal supply such as allowing imports of more GM grains or increased access from countries that use products not allowed in the EU.
The tillage sector would welcome moves to increase the production and emphasis on crops but that requires access to land.
Could we see tillage farmers incentivised to work grassland for a minimum period or mixed farmers incentivised to have more land in crops? For others, it could be the relaxation of controls around some GLAS schemes.
The bottom line is that any further production increase depends on access to land, which is influenced by relative profitability and policy.
Grains may be gone out of the title but they should not be gone of the agenda of the food security initiative.Actions to reduce the demand for imports must also form part of the food security solution.The EU is more than self-sufficient in cereals to meet internal feed demand. Tillage is being hit worst by the proposals in the new CAP policy and these need to be amended if further loss of acres is to be avoided.
The intention stated by the Minister for Agriculture 10 days ago to increase grain production in Ireland in 2022 seems to have become highly diluted following the meeting with farm organisations last week. The stated focus has moved from grains to fodder and food.
While food is undoubtedly a genuine objective in self-sufficiency and security, governments might have done more to heed what has been happening in this regard for the past few decades. We have effectively lost our milling industry, the sugar industry is gone, potatoes are constantly plagued by cheaper imports and our vegetable-producing sector is shrinking weekly due to price pressures, also driven by cheaper imports.
We claim, or at least somebody claims, that we can feed 40m people while in reality we would probably be hard pressed to provide a sound balanced diet for more than one million of our own population.
Policies seemed to be far more focused on ways to have access to things like imported strawberries all year round than towards encouraging consumers to enjoy the seasonality of local foods. Now we may pay for this indifference.
A wake-up call
Now the wake-up call has come but is it too late? The livestock sector is being forced to recognise that two-thirds of the concentrate feed it uses is imported and that this is now subject to availability concerns, as well as price issues.
Imports of feeds have traditionally been used because they were cheaper and that has led to a reduction in internal production and an increasing dependence on imports. And this is happening despite the fact that we market much of our produce as being grass-fed (which it should be).
The tillage sector has helped with the production of forage at times in the past when there was fodder scarcity. But, for that, there was neither thanks nor recognition and the pressure on acres continued. If this country wants to have a viable tillage sector to produce both food and feed, then the policy approach must be more positive and active going forward.
Current Government policy states a wish to stabilise or increase tillage area but yet we see ongoing pressure on cropped acres as a counteracting measure for forage production and nitrates alleviation.
No simple solution
We must all acknowledge that it is not a simple task to instantly increase the area sown to crops but it is equally interesting that grains were not seen as a potential solution to the problems that may face the livestock sector.
That said, it is the monogastric sector that depends heavily on grains while no ruminant need die of hunger due to the unavailability of concentrate feed. Yet, they are widely used to help profit.
The fact is that we are importing around four million tonnes of feed ingredients annually to produce around six million tonnes of feed for livestock. Some of this is whole grains but much of it is the by-product of whole grains or oilseeds and availability into the future has become a concern. The cessation of exports from Ukraine and the banning of imports from Russia effectively removes 25% (100mt) from the volume of grain traded globally. This is driving panic in markets as buyers scramble for alternative supplies. If this amount of grain goes missing, someone in the world may have to go without.
Tackling availability
There are three issues that need to be tackled from this wake-up call.
We need some level of increased native production of feed grains because the sector is increasingly being forced towards premium markets and away from feed commodities where there is no recognition of the benefits of native production.We should look at ways of decreasing overall feed usage to help offset our dependence on a range of imported feedstuffs.We need to take a serious look at our lack of basic food production, the absence of any serious flour milling capacity and encourage real opportunities for vegetable producers with preference given to native production.Increased supply
Even if increased grains are not the priority of farm organisations for 2022, they should be a priority for the country in the national interest.
Most in the tillage sector do not want another once-off fix as a means to generating a spike in production. The sector needs adjustments that persist into the future. Yet, it is possible that the EU will consider moves to increase internal supply such as allowing imports of more GM grains or increased access from countries that use products not allowed in the EU.
The tillage sector would welcome moves to increase the production and emphasis on crops but that requires access to land.
Could we see tillage farmers incentivised to work grassland for a minimum period or mixed farmers incentivised to have more land in crops? For others, it could be the relaxation of controls around some GLAS schemes.
The bottom line is that any further production increase depends on access to land, which is influenced by relative profitability and policy.
Grains may be gone out of the title but they should not be gone of the agenda of the food security initiative.Actions to reduce the demand for imports must also form part of the food security solution.The EU is more than self-sufficient in cereals to meet internal feed demand. Tillage is being hit worst by the proposals in the new CAP policy and these need to be amended if further loss of acres is to be avoided. 
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