IFA grain committee chair Kieran McEvoy has said that something has to be done to stop farmers leaving the tillage sector.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal’s Tillage Podcast, McEvoy said the IFA is looking for a payment for 2025 crops and €65m every year for five years to support current farmers and encourage farmers into the sector.

“If we could stop the people who are there from going out of business that’s the first port of call.”

He noted the target to increase area is in the Programme for Government and commented: “We have to at some stage say here are you serious about a tillage sector, are you serious about increasing to 400,000ha? I think 400,000ha is achievable, but will only ever be achievable with proper support.

“If we can hold what we have it’s a good starting point. That’s not going to be done without financial assistance unfortunately.”

“We have been looking for €65m funding for the tillage sector in a direct payment to tillage farmers over a five-year period to get us through these volatile times of the nitrates derogation, high input prices and so on. It’s to keep people in the game.”

He commented that while winter crops are good, there are many poor spring crops on farms and grain prices are much lower than last year, so farmers need support. He noted that support for Irish grain in animal feed is outlined in the Food Vision Tillage Report, along with a suggestion for funding.

“We need an inclusion rate of native grain in rations and in feed nuts. I think that’s where we have to go. Irish grain shouldn’t be the last thing to be on the shelf in stores.

“It has to get a premium over cheap imports of whatever standards. There’s a lot of people making feed in the country that have no affinity to Irish grain. That’s a major problem.