The first co-op harvest prices have been announced. Dairygold Co-op came out of the stalls on Tuesday night 3 October following its board meeting.

Base prices for green feed barley and wheat are €195/t and €205/t respectively. Once a co-op bonus of €5/t is added, that brings them to €200/t for barley and €210/t for wheat. The full list of prices is reported on page 3 with and without the co-op bonus.

The prices are clearly encouraging farmers to make good planting decisions and display a commitment to Irish tillage farming with a high malting barley price and a strong contracted beans price for those who committed to the crop early in the season.

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These crops will add a premium over feed cereals and beans will help crop rotation.

Prices for November barley have hovered around €230/t (dried) and below since the beginning of August and €240/t for wheat. To calculate the green price, drying and handling charges need to be taken off. These will differ from one processor to another, but are somewhere around €35/t and will be higher or lower in different cases.

Income down

The high cost of inputs and weather conditions means that many farmers will be at a loss on crops and large losses on rented ground. It is very frustrating for farmers, but if things are to change, then some sort of a premium for Irish grain will be needed and that co-operation needs to come from the wider agriculture and food sector.

Government aid of €28/ha will not make a dent in the losses on tillage farms.

Global markets

Looking at global markets this week and French Matif wheat for December took a dip. It finished last week at almost the same price as the week previous at €235.50/t.

On Monday, that price hit €232.50/t, but recovered again on Tuesday when it finished at €236.50/t. On Wednesday afternoon, it had fallen back down to €234.25/t.

Matif oilseed rape for November also jumped this week. It closed last Friday at €442.50/t and jumped on Monday 2 October to €447.50/t. On Wednesday afternoon, this price was back down at €442.50/t.

More prices

Native prices over the past week were reported at approximately €230/t for dry barley and €235 to €240/t for dry wheat. Soya ex-port dropped €10/t this week to €500/t, while new crop maize dropped €10/t to €240/t.

Now that one set of prices has been announced, more will follow. Let us know what you are being paid by emailing tillagenews@farmersjournal.ie.