Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue expects a 1% drop in tillage area in 2023.

Addressing farmers in his native Donegal at a walk on Drumbuoy Farm, Newtowncunningham on Tuesday 6 June, the minister urged tillage farmers to bring ideas to the table which could help the sector.

He commented that farm organisations are sitting on the Food Vision Tillage Group and that farmers should bring ideas to their farm organisations and allow it to be fed into the group.

He said the area under tillage this year is likely to drop by in or around 1%, having increased by 6% in 2022 with help from the Tillage Incentive Scheme. He added that two-thirds of the country’s grain requirement is imported and that work is needed to try and back the sector.