The Minster for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue is bringing a support package worth €7m for the country's pig farmers to cabinet this Tuesday.

Teagasc has forecast that Ireland’s 300 pig farmers will lose €128m this year, with the average 600-sow herd set to lose almost €450,000 between September 2021 and September 2022.

The support package is worth €20,000 per farmer and will be paid out to all finisher pig farmers who are members of the Bord Bia quality assurance scheme.

The minister is expected to tell cabinet that the support payments must be issued rapidly to support the sector.

Costs

Prices for feed, energy and labour have all sky-rocketed for pig farmers in recent months, while pig prices have dropped.

Prices shows no sign of falling either, with Teagasc predicting a further increase in prices to hit farm margins in April of this year.

It has estimated that a 600-sow unit could see €12,000 added to feed costs during April alone.

Contracts

Some pig farmers with electricity prices locked-in with their suppliers until 2023 have also had their contracts cancelled.

The electricity suppliers had cancelled these contracts under force majeure clauses, Teagasc pig development officer Michael McKeon said last week.

He said this will compound issues on pig farms.

“So people are immediately there on a higher rate, whereas we would have thought that would have come slowly in over the last 12 to 18 months,” he explained.

For more, see this week's Irish Farmers Journal.