The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) has called for the urgent introduction of 2018-style fodder import subsidies, as it warned the looming fodder crisis brought on by drought could be worse than 2018.

The ICMSA’s president Denis Drennan said the “competent and practical fashion with which the fodder shortage of 2018 was dealt with should provide a very useful template” for Government to use in mitigating the impact that scarce winter feed will have on farms this year.

Drennan said it is becoming “perfectly obvious that there’s going to be severe pressure” on fodder stocks come winter, as this year's drought means that it is “almost certain that the fodder shortage will be worse than that experienced in 2018”.

The ICMSA also sees the State subsidising of fodder imports like haylage and alfalfa as “almost certain” before the year is out.

Survey difficulties

Drennan said that while Teagasc’s fodder survey is ongoing, the feeding out of silage while farmers are inputting data makes it “very difficult to measure the stock of something that’s actually falling as you try to measure it.”

“So, getting the fodder inventory shouldn’t delay for even one day the implementation of measures that it’s obvious are going to be required.

“We think that that the 2018 example provides a very useful and proven sequence to follow in terms of actively incentivising tillage growers to grow both short rotation grasses and specific catch crops like stubble turnips, fodder rape and westerwold grass.”

Drennan drew attention to the decision of then-minister for agriculture Michael Creed to utilise GLAS catch crops for feed, saying that he expects Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon will assess a similar option for the equivalent measure in ACRES.

Fodder potential for lower-stocked farms

The ICMSA made further calls for a water quality-focused response to securing additional fodder supplies across the country before winter.

It wants consideration given to an increased fertiliser allowance for lower-stocked farmers to generate extra fodder stocks that could be put onto the market to bridge the feeding gap needed to take herds into next spring.

“An increased allowance is already in place for farmers with no stock and perhaps this allowance should be amended for farmers with low stock numbers to encourage additional fodder production without compromising water quality,” Drennan said.

“These farmers are in a position to produce fodder but the fertiliser limits imposed on them does not take account of fodder sales and the Department should up this limit to allow, specifically, for fodder sales, safe in the knowledge that the higher limit will have no impact on water quality.”