Farming
Prices still remain poor but ‘good week’ will gather the crops
THIS week’s spell of good weather should ‘clean up’ the remaining 2,000 acres of corn to be cut on Galway farms this harvest, according to IFA grain representatives.
The poor summer and low sunshine amounts meant that some crops weren’t fit for harvesting during the window of good weather that presented itself in early September.
John Daly, Galway IFA Grain Committee Chairman, told the Farming Tribune that this week’s good weather was very welcome news for many grain farmers.
“Some crops were that bit later in ripening this year so we estimate that up to last weekend about 20% of the crops in Galway or 2,000 acres still remained to be cut,” said John Daly.
Price though still continues to be the big bugbear for grain farmers with barley at 20% moisture coming in at €141/€142 per tonne.
World surpluses in grain have led to depressed global markets while in Europe, France has an estimated 41 million tonnes of grain held in storage that they want to offload.
“Over the past two to three years, we have a situation whereby the best grain growers can hope for in Ireland is a break-even situation.
“The real worry is that there is only so long that this position can be sustained. While the yields have been very solid this year [c. 3 tonnes per acre], the prices have remained poor again,” said John Daly.
Nationally the IFA have been negotiating with the merchants to try and agree some level of price increase but there seems to be little room for manoeuvre given the world market situation. Despite the heavy rains of the weekend of September 10 to 14, the crops still remaining to be cut have stood up well to the conditions.
“While we got some heavy rain, we didn’t get the strong winds that could do an awful lot of damage. Price wise it’s been another bad year, but at least this week all the crops should be harvested,” said John Daly.
GALWAY IFA Chairperson, Anne Mitchell, has thanked the people of Athenry and surrounding areas for their support during Friday’s Action Day protest.
She told the Farming Tribune that the demonstration was planned to cause ‘absolute minimal disruption’ to the people, schools and businesses of the town as well as being conscious of Covid restrictions.
“We really didn’t want anyone on the streets because of the Covid situation and we also advised that where there was more than one person in a vehicle, and not from the same household, that they would wear masks,” said Anne Mitchell.
She said that they were also acutely aware of the fact that the Leaving Cert examinations were going on in schools around the town which dictated their decision to stage the protest between 11am and 12 noon.
However, one concerned parent who contacted this newspaper, said that the honking of horns could be heard by those who were doing their Leaving Cert geography exam on Friday.
“While I do understand the reasons behind the protest, I just think that the honking of horns should have been left out it, while an exam was in progress,” he said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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AN estimated ‘200 plus’ tractors, cars and jeeps took part in Friday’s IFA ‘Action Day’ protest in Athenry aimed at highlighting major problems coming down the track with the ‘new CAP’ and the Climate Action Bill.
Connacht IFA Chairperson, Pat Murphy, said that they were delighted with the turnout and also with the positive reception they received from the people of Athenry.
“If farming and agriculture go to the wall in rural Ireland it will sound the death-knell for our provincial and villages too.
“We really do need our politicians to wake up to the fact that decisions made over the coming weeks or months could decide the future of rural Ireland as we know it,” said Pat Murphy.
He said that an agenda being driven by the Green Party to drastically reduce the numbers of suckler cows, dairy cows and cattle across Ireland would have a catastrophic impact on Irish agriculture, unless amendments were made to the Climate Action Bill.
“If Irish farmers are prevented in producing the food that’s accepted as being probably the most environmentally friendly and traceable product across the world, then that gap will be filled by countries like Brazil where rain forests are being cut down every single day of the year,” said Pat Murphy.
He also said that the negotiations on CAP coming up at the end of this month would also have huge implications for farming and especially so in the West of Ireland where farms were so dependent on direct payments.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
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A CRITICAL part of the eventual CAP deal for farmers will rest with the flexibility of the Irish Government to make its own decisions on where the money will be allocated, Minister for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue, told the Farming Tribune last week.
During a whistle-stop tour of a number of agri-related projects in Galway last Thursday, Minister McConalogue said that as things stood, the major stumbling block to an agreement was the European Parliament.
“There are really two aspects of this deal which will be of vital importance to Irish farmers over the coming years – the flexibility to make our own decisions and the percentage of the funding to be spent on ECO schemes,” said Charlie McConalogue.
He said that while some progress had been made at the end of last month’s Trilogue negotiations [EU Commission, Council and European Parliament], it had not been possible to reach an agreement.
“As things stand, what’s blocking a final agreement is the European Parliament part of that Trilogue. We are trying to reach compromises on the issue of convergence, and the ECO scheme element of the payments, but this hasn’t been possible with the parliament so far,” said the Minister.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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