Additional layers of income such as microgeneration and carbon farming are ways farmers can keep producing sheep and beef while also insulating themselves against price volatility, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture with special responsibility for farm safety Martin Heydon has said.

The Microgeneration Support Scheme, he said, can support farmers to make an income of €5,000 to €8,000 a year by putting solar panel on their sheds.

The Government-supported schemewill allow farmers to install solar panels and wind

turbines, for their own on-farm consumption and receive a payment for any residual electricity they export back to the grid.

The work Teagasc is doing to establish a baseline for carbon is also very important, he said.

“We need to get to a point in the future where farmers can make additional income on top of producing the beef and sheep and food produce that we do so well, that they have an additional layer of income coming into the farm that’s stable every year, will insulate against those shocks that happen with price volatility that we are so used to in agriculture.

“What we want to do is move away from that point where farmers, beef farmers in particular, are so reliant on that price of product."

Beef price

“There’s always a challenge if there’s a slippage in price, but obviously we are at that time of year when prices tend to slip when cattle are coming through and the input costs are not slipping back and that is the challenge,” he said.

Budget 2023

The Sumner Economic Report was published by the Government on Monday and will focus on the cost of living.

With an overall package of €6.7m, Minister Heydon said that support for beef and sheep farmers will be of high priority.

“The broad parameters have been set out for our next budget, there’s going to be a key focus on the cost of living, which is a big impact for everyone across the country, but farmers are particularly impacted by that.

“Beef and sheep farmers are really impacted by those higher costs of doing their business and we’ll be looking to have innovative ways to look at how we support farmers in this next budget,” the minister said.