Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has done a U-turn and reinstated the Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM) that he sought to suspend over a week ago.

The scheme will be reinstated for farmers who want to chop and incorporate straw.

All farmers who applied for the measure will qualify for the scheme this season and be paid once all criteria are met. There will be no ranking of crops.

€175/ha payment

At a meeting of the Farmers Charter this Thursday, the Minister proposed to introduce a payment for farmers to bale straw in tandem with the SIM.

Farmers can stay in the scheme and receive their payment for incorporation as normal or they can withdraw from the scheme and receive a payment for baling instead, the Minister for Agriculture said.

"I have proposed that those that withdraw from SIM and bale will receive a payment rate of €175/ha for baling straw in recognition of their efforts to prevent a fodder shortage."

Action

The Minister said he believes that pro-active action is necessary to prevent a potential fodder issue for many farmers this year.

"It has always been my intention to keep the funding for SIM within the sector. But of course, nothing I agree with farm bodies can make the sun shine or the grass grow and so I am encouraging livestock farmers to be proactive too.

"Farmers should utilise their fertiliser allowance, engage with tillage farmers about their straw or whole crop needs and talk to their advisor should they have any concerns in relation to fodder stocks for this coming winter," he said.

The outcome has come after two days of negotiations and discussions involving the IFA, the Irish Grain Growers Group (IGGG), the Minister and Department of Agriculture officials.

Vital payment

The IFA and IGG said that it was vital that the measure was re-instated in full.

A joint statement from both farm organisations said it is also important that a guarantee had been given by the Minister that all applicants to the scheme will be paid regardless of the outcome of ranking and selection process.

"The announcement by the Minister last week was an error of judgement and caused huge stress and uncertainty for tillage farmers.

"It was a model of how not to do things and it can never be repeated in relation to any scheme in any sector.

"The reality is that the tillage sector is already in the middle of a very challenging year due to weather challenges and low projected grain prices," they said.

Shock announcement

The news comes after the Minister made a shock announcement on Wednesday 17 July that he was seeking approval from the European Commission to suspend the SIM due to concerns around fodder supplies.

After meeting with he IFA and the IGG on Thursday 18 July, he said he would meet the groups again this week. Tillage farmers were furious over the suspension of the scheme.

On Saturday night he announced that he was considering paying farmers to bale straw.

Bale it and buy it

At the Irish Farmers Journal's National Suckler and Sheep Open Day on Tuesday, the Minister said his message to farmers in terms of clarity “is to bale it because it’s needed and my message to [livestock] farmers is to buy it, because it’s needed”.

He also said that all straw was needed when questioned on oilseed rape and held this stance when told oilseed rape treated with Astrokerb could not be baled.

Quality straw

Ahead of a special Farmers Charter this Thursday meeting, Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue indicated that the aim of suspending the scheme is “to see quality straw that is due to be chopped under the SIM baled for sale”.

This was taken mean that late-harvested and poor yielding cereal straw and oilseed rape straw may be paid for under the scheme.

See the full timeline on the story here.