IFA grain chair Kieran McEvoy has called for a tariff to be placed on grain that is being imported into Ireland.

Referring to the carbon border adjustment mechanism tax on fertiliser, farmers at a Carlow IFA grain meeting on Tuesday night queried why tariffs are being applied to fertiliser, but no tariffs are being applied to imported grain.

“That will have to roll out across the rest of the industry. It can’t just put us at a disadvantage buying fertiliser. First, we’ll have to start accounting for carbon.

“We have to have a credible system and I think AgNav is a credible system to do that,” McEvoy said.

McEvoy also said that something will have to be done on inclusion rates in animal feed.

“Irish grain can’t be the last grain left in the shed.”

He explained that there “is something seriously wrong with the system” that Ireland is in such a good position to produce high-yielding crops, but tillage farmers can’t make money.

While one member noted that there’s very little anyone can do about world grain markets, McEvoy said he would be recommending that growers fill out the new AgNav tool to calculate tillage farm’s carbon footprints.

“A lot of people have talked about carbon, if you can’t quantify it you can’t stand over it,” he said.