DEAR SIR:

Following on from the recent letters regarding the lack of use of native grains in our feed rations, I would like to reiterate what has been said. It is very difficult to comprehend that following the smallest harvest recorded in over 20 years, and following a year of massive usage of meal on livestock farms, we are in the incredible situation of potentially carrying forward grain into this year’s harvest. As a result, grain prices are currently very low relative to last harvest (if one could find a buyer) and this could potentially create a drag on this year’s harvest price.

It is very disheartening to think that our native grain, which is virtually all quality assured under the Irish Grain Assurance Scheme (IGAS), is not the first choice of millers and end users. It is equally disheartening that the efforts of many tillage farmers last autumn to produce fodder to help fill the potential deficit in the livestock sector is being repaid by the massive use of imported grains over native.

Having had first-hand experience of being involved in the setting up of the IGAS (I was IFA national grain chairman at the time), I thought it would, and should have, enhanced the value of native grain. However, it now appears I was wrong. Imported grain from whatever destination, assured or not, seems to carry more value. This all flies in the face of what our government bodies are telling us about our green image, sustainable farming, commitments to climate change, etc.

Our tillage sector cannot survive on the demand for straw only. With stock numbers increasing and grain area decreasing over the past number of years, it will be difficult to produce the quantities required. This is especially poignant if the industry continues to use imported grain in preference to the quality native grain that our tillage farmers produce. Thank you.