FARM FAMILIES are facing losses of up to €600 million this year because of poor weather and the collapse in market prices, the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) said yesterday.
Its president, Pádraig Walshe, said farmers were “left reeling” by almost unmanageable weather conditions combined with poor market prices and Government cuts to vital income support schemes. He said the income of dairy farmers had been wiped out because of the market, poor weather and increased costs of production due to the weather.
The IFA estimated the dairy sector was facing total output losses of €550 million this year.
Tillage growers were facing losses of €100 million as they tried to salvage the remainder of the harvest in bad weather conditions, Mr Walshe said.
He said livestock farmers were facing losses of €180 million because of poor thrive in cattle over the summer, in addition to lower prices. “Because of the heavy rainfall during the summer months, there is a fodder crisis looming on one-third of farms, which will cost those affected at least €75 million to address over the winter months.”
Finding the money to buy fodder would be an additional challenge for the worst-affected as tens of thousands of farm families were at the “pin of their collar to make ends meet”, the IFA president said.
He said input cost reductions, especially on fertiliser, would save approximately €260 million, leaving the sector facing income losses of at least €570 million this year. “This equates to an income reduction of 25 per cent and is on top of a 12 per cent fall in incomes last year.”
Meanwhile, the Government had cut income support schemes four times in the last 12 months, he pointed out. “This has left farmers reeling and feeling totally isolated by their elected rural Ministers and TDs.” He said it was clear public sector decision-makers were “intent on protecting their own pay and benefits at the expense of Irish farmers and the rural economy”.
IFA yesterday urged the Government to reinstate the income supports that had been cut and find additional resources to assist the sector. Mr Walshe said IFA’s 85,000-strong membership would hold rural-based TDs and Ministers to account if they did not take action to help farm families.
“The Minister for Agriculture and rural-based TDs must wake up and I challenge them to get out there and experience the situation for themselves,” he said.
