IFA national dairy chair Tom Phelan has welcomed the decision by the board of Dairygold to increase its May milk price by 0.5c/l to 29.19c/l including quality and sustainability bonuses and VAT.

He said it would help boost farmers’ confidence at a challenging time for cashflow and morale.

“Co-ops that have yet to set their May milk price should take a leaf out of the Dairygold book. All co-ops should look to improve June payouts.

“The outlook for dairy markets continues to be reasonably positive, so it is important that co-ops now start to consider more favourably future milk pricing decisions,” Phelan said.

“We have seen the end of milk price cuts, and with recent indicators including yesterday’s GDT auction, showing firmer trends, farmers will need to see better milk prices from all co-ops,” he concluded.

REPS commitment welcome but it must not distract from GLAS extension

IFA rural development chair Michael Biggins said that while the proposed REPS-type scheme committed to in the programme for government is important, it must not distract from the need to avoid any gaps in payments for farmers in the existing GLAS.

Currently, the only definite for farmers is that 36,000 GLAS contracts finish at the end of this year. The promise of a scheme, which as yet there is no detail on, could lead to uncertainty.

“The priority for an incoming Minister for Agriculture must be to guarantee that all farmers finishing GLAS later this year will be in an agri-environment scheme next year, whether this is a continuation of GLAS or this proposed REPS-type scheme. The IFA has made it very clear that a REPS-type scheme must deliver payment of €10,000 per annum,” he said.

Biggins also said that the new REPS-type scheme will be funded from the carbon tax and will be worth €1.5bn up to 2030. However, it is unclear what proportion of funds will be available next year when the scheme is due to start.

“The current GLAS is worth about €1.45bn in the current seven-year Rural Development Plan. The new Government needs to be clear that the €1.5bn from the carbon tax is ‘new money’ and will be in addition to the existing funding for GLAS and other schemes,” he said.

The IFA rural development chair said that at a recent meeting with the Department of Agriculture, the IFA stressed the need to get early agreement on the EU CAP transitional rules. This will allow the extension of GLAS contracts for a year or two before the new CAP.

He said: “There must be no gaps in payments. Gaps occurred in the past, and these had a detrimental impact on farm incomes.”

Drought conditions will hit tillage incomes hard

IFA grain chair Mark Browne said the continuing drought is having a severe impact on the tillage sector. Recent rain has been too little too late for many crops. At best, many growers will have significant yield reductions while in other situations, entire crops are a write-off.

“The situation is particularly critical right up through the midlands and into the east and northeast where growers, in some cases, have practically closed the gates on crops which may not be worth harvesting,” he said.

Browne said that the combination of dry conditions and the reduction in winter crop plantings of over 40% is sure to result in a severe decrease in straw supply.

“It is estimated that barley straw availability will reduce by 300,000t and wheaten straw by 200,000t compared to last year. This is almost a 50% reduction in supply,” he said.

The IFA grain chair is calling on merchants and feed mills to prioritise Irish grain and pay sustainable grain prices to Irish tillage farmers.