Ireland needs a green energy fund and 40% of carbon taxes should be ring-fenced for renewable energy so tillage farmers can grow energy crops, IFA presidential candidate John Coughlan has said.

He told the ,Irish Farmers Journal Around the Editor’s Table debate on Friday night there needs to be more options there for tillage farmers.

“We have a very good base tillage industry in this country. The difficulty has been since we lost the beet industry, we have taken a vital crop away.

“What we need now is for our tillage farmers to be able to grow energy crops, to be able to grow renewables.

There are businesses built up across the country, waiting for these renewable energies to take off

“That’s why I have put forward in my manifesto that we need a green energy fund and we need to ring-fence 40% of our carbon taxes for renewable energy so that our tillage farmers can grow energy crops.

“You see right across the country. There are businesses built up across the country, waiting for these renewable energies to take off. They’re ready to make money but at present there is no money in it for farmers and unless there’s a green energy fund there, which I am proposing, there will be nothing in it for farmers. That’s the road we have to go,” he said.

Price contracts

Tim Cullinan said Ireland is producing approximately 2m tonnes of grain and we’re using 6m tonnes.

“I think the first thing we need to look at is we have to get away from where farmers are dropping the grain into the co-op and then there’s a price agreed at the end of the year.

“The first thing we need to do is have a price contract. If a guy is going to risk ploughing the land and the investment in putting seed in … we have to protect the tillage sector that we have,” he said.

Protection

Angus Woods said the Government and Department of Agriculture need to show flexibility to tillage farmers because of the wet autumn and current issues with planting.

“In the longer term we’re seeing significant threats to the type of products we can use on our cereal crops.

“Every single one of those needs to be protected.

“Last year was a classic example, it showed the importance of the tillage sector when straw yields were back down and dairy and beef farmers were struggling to get straw. We need a strong vibrant tillage sector and the only way we can do that is by having that all-Ireland ration, but also having the option of renewables as well,” he said.

Minimum inclusion rates

The candidates were asked if they would support a minimum inclusion rate of Irish grains into rations, even if it meant higher prices for livestock farmers.

Cullinan said he is a substantial user of grain himself.

“I believe grain farmers have to get a fair price and if it does mean a higher inclusion in feed, so be it. Grain farmers cannot continue at the price they’ve achieved over the last number of years at €130/t and €140/t.”

Woods said minimum inclusion rates would be worthy of merit and that he would look into it.

Labelling

“The one area that does need to be looked at when it comes to rations is actually the labelling; what’s actually in them, what’s in the bag of nuts or what’s in the tonne of meal?

“If you combine proper labelling with minimum inclusion rates, I think that’s a positive for supporting not just the tillage sector but also the livestock and the dairying sectors as well. We’re trading under brand Ireland, this whole image that we’re portraying about grass-fed and origin green, the whole Irish model, so I would be supportive.”

We don’t know what’s in a lot of our rations and we don’t know whether it’s imported grain or Irish grain

John Coughlan was asked if he would be happy to pay an extra €10/t for his dairy ration if it had a bit more Irish grain in it.

His response was “not unless there was proper labelling first and foremost”.

“That’s our biggest problem in the whole feed industry. We don’t know what’s in a lot of our rations and we don’t know whether it’s imported grain or Irish grain. We don’t know a lot of the other ingredients as well.”

When asked if there was proper labelling would he pay a premium, Coughlan said: “Yes we can afford to pay the premium because we have better-quality ration.”

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