Carol Nolan urges structured survival payments for tillage
Carol Nolan addressed the Minister on the tillage sector, arguing that a modest 2025 yield increase has not delivered stability and calling for structured survival payments and certainty from Government. She highlighted structural pressures, rising imports and input costs, and warned about high CAP allocation usage for conservation tillage.
The speaker set out the core problems facing the tillage sector - significant structural pressures, increased importation of grains and elevated input costs. While production figures for 2025 showed a modest yield increase, Carol Nolan said this has not translated into sector stability and remains a major concern for farmers.
Carol Nolan acknowledged that Government has initiated targeted responses after extensive consultations and noted the Minister's direct engagement at a national crisis meeting convened by the Irish Farmers Association in September. She also referenced prior engagement with the IFA ahead of the Budget and said the Committee on Agriculture has examined policy options.
The speech recorded that the Committee on Agriculture considered measures including taxation initiatives for low-carbon tillage crops and biodiversity rewards to foster longer-term resilience. Nolan described these as part of pathways towards viability that the Minister and others have outlined.
Carol Nolan reported the IFA's position that structured survival payments are needed - a system that gives farmers certainty and secures sustained fiscal commitments from Government. She emphasised that certainty is essential for farming planning, likening it to the needs of any business.
The speaker expressed alarm at reports that Ireland may need to use more than 75 per cent of its Common Agricultural Policy allocation to promote conservation tillage systems, calling that prospect of concern for the sector and its future resilience.
Main concerns raised
The speaker set out the core problems facing the tillage sector - significant structural pressures, increased importation of grains and elevated input costs. While production figures for 2025 showed a modest yield increase, Carol Nolan said this has not translated into sector stability and remains a major concern for farmers.
Engagements and government responses
Carol Nolan acknowledged that Government has initiated targeted responses after extensive consultations and noted the Minister's direct engagement at a national crisis meeting convened by the Irish Farmers Association in September. She also referenced prior engagement with the IFA ahead of the Budget and said the Committee on Agriculture has examined policy options.
Policy options examined
The speech recorded that the Committee on Agriculture considered measures including taxation initiatives for low-carbon tillage crops and biodiversity rewards to foster longer-term resilience. Nolan described these as part of pathways towards viability that the Minister and others have outlined.
Calls for certainty and survival payments
Carol Nolan reported the IFA's position that structured survival payments are needed - a system that gives farmers certainty and secures sustained fiscal commitments from Government. She emphasised that certainty is essential for farming planning, likening it to the needs of any business.
EU funding concern
The speaker expressed alarm at reports that Ireland may need to use more than 75 per cent of its Common Agricultural Policy allocation to promote conservation tillage systems, calling that prospect of concern for the sector and its future resilience.
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Transcript
Minister, I am delighted to get the opportunity to speak here tonight on the tillage issue. I know I have spoken and engaged with the IFA on the matter on a number of occasions before the Budget. Many of those concerns and challenges relate to the significant structural pressures and extended economic factors that the sector faces, including increased importation of grains and elevated input costs. While we accept that production figures for 2025 show a modest yield increase, this has not translated into sector stability and that is of huge concern to the tillage sector. I do accept that Government has initiated targeted responses to mitigate those pressures following extensive consultations, including a national crisis meeting convened by the Irish Farmers Association in September, which was alluded to here a number of times huge attendance and it goes to show how important this issue is and how worried farmers are about it. I know Minister, you engaged directly at that meeting to outline pathways towards viability and that is something that everyone in this House wants to see achieved. I also understand that the Committee on Agriculture has also examined policy options such as taxation initiatives for low-carbon tillage crops and biodiversity rewards to foster long-term resilience. However, we must move to a situation advocated by the likes of the IFA who are at the forefront of this and they understand inside out the concerns and issues that farmers have. Their approach is that where there is a structured survival payments implemented, a system where farmers have certainty and where we can finally bring about sustained fiscal commitments from Government. Obviously, certainty is important in terms of farming and in terms of planning from year to year, no different to a business, so it is important that that certainty is provided going forward. I also note on the European front that the Common Agricultural Policy continues to channel financial support towards the promotion of conservation tillage systems. But Minister, I am deeply alarmed by reports that Ireland will have to use more than 75 per cent of its allocation. That is of concern.