George Lawlor presses minister on tillage crisis and payments

Minister I want to ask you how you propose to increase the tillage areas outlined as a key desire in the program for government and when will the new tillage incentive scheme be introduced to support tillage growers and if you'll make a statement on the matter. Minister. I would thank very much the deputy for raising this important point. The tillage sector is an integral part of Irish farming and makes a really significant contribution to overall agricultural output. This government recognises the importance of the sector and wants to grow the area under tillage crops in the years ahead. The report of the food vision tillage group which was set up and set out a roadmap for the growth and development of the sector identifies opportunities to grow the sector and to further improve its environmental footprint. My department continues to engage with stakeholders to progress the actions in the report through collaboration with all stakeholders. My department has provided significant support to tillage farmers in recent years. The budget for protein aid has increased 10 million euro annually since 2024. Applications for over 66,000 hectares of cereal and oilseed rape straw were submitted for chopping and incorporating in 2025 under the strong corporation measure. I have committed to paying all farmers who have applied under this scheme. I've made this decision early to give certainty to farmers but also giving them an economic boost. You know just in in financial terms Deputy there was 10 million euro budgeted for strong corporation a year each year as part of the CSP. The applications this year are over 15 million so it's not an insignificant decision for me to make in regard to managing my budget but I wanted to do it to be able to provide that certainty and support and I'm a major supporter of strong corporation. I believe it does great work and it provides a number of great benefits to our farmers. In February this year I announced the 32.4 million euro payments under the tillage and horticulture support scheme which was a government response to difficult position tillage and horticulture farmers found themselves in due to exceptionally poor weather and continued high input costs last spring. This exceeds the 30 million provided for in last year's budget so again I had to try and find extra money within my budget and to make decisions to prioritise because I was anxious that we would be able to make the payment on every hectare of eligible ground and that extra two and a half million was as part of that. Thank you Minister I acknowledge your words but as you know and I don't need to tell you tillage is a vital part of our food security and given what is happening globally the uncertainty that prevails are reliable and viable tillage sectors required to ensure a food supply. It's also important to speak to the fact that tillage is effectively a carbon neutral if not indeed better area of agriculture and as such the tillage sector can play an important role if supported fully in the agri sector reducing its carbon footprint. In June 2023 the then Minister for Agriculture committed to achieving the target of increasing the tillage area to 400,000 hectares by 2030. However figures from the industry at that time suggested that the tillage area was set to decline. In 2012 there was 355,000 hectares of land in the country under tillage yet in 2024 this that has has dropped at 334,000 hectares. Minister Tillage plays a vital role in the agricultural economy and indeed in the area of food sustainability in the country. It's vital that we increase the tillage area as a matter of urgency because we cannot depend as we've already seen we cannot depend on the global uncertainty that prevails at this point in time. Minister. Look I concur and I agree with you deputy that we do want to see a growth in the tillage sector and I'm very heartened after two really hard years that our area under arable and tillage this year is a slight increase on last year so it has it is stabilized in the face of two horrendous years. This year is difficult future prices for the sector are still very challenging and is that one sector of agriculture that hasn't seen a big uplift in commodity prices but at the same time the crops are looking good we've had a good year in terms of weather particularly the winter crops looking very clean and full and be very hopeful for a good harvest obviously spring crops are always somewhat more variable but we're seeing a lot more winter crops because of the weather last year haven't been sowed in the back end so from that perspective look we keep a very close eye on it but just to say the tillage sector is supported under other schemes including the tillage capital investment scheme acres as many tillage farmers in that glad to be in that this time the organic farming scheme and water quality AIP is open to them as well so there's a range of different measures there for supporting our tillage sector we may indeed have a better year this year but the tillage sector has suffered crippling losses over the past number of years and also we've seen fertilizer prices increased by up to 300% since the war in Ukraine we see tillage farm income plummet in 2022 that the tillage farm income average farm income was 76,600 euro in 2024 that had plummeted to 30,000 tillage farmers can't take any more of these losses they need assistance and they need assurance counties like my own of Wexford are taking a huge hit the IFA tells us that the economic viability of the sector is in a very precarious position for 2025 and the sector is extremely vulnerable in the coming years as of 2025 forward barley prices for harvest in 2025 are 185 euros a ton this is well below the cost of production for many farmers it's unsustainable and it has to be supported if we're to see people remain in the sector and if we are to see the incomes rise it's vital that the sector receives absolute commitment and support coming from you directly Minister it's crucial and I acknowledge that you in your words today that you have you are supportive of of the sector but it's crucial that a new tillage incentive scheme be introduced to support tillage growers that we begin to be more self-sufficient when it comes to the supply of our own native green minister yeah look at the end of the day continue to have those supports in place strong corporation the protein a 10 million obviously the intervention and the allocation of money earlier this year which while was for hardship of last year and recognized that it came out of this year's budget my budget that I have to manage this year effort for tillage and for everywhere else so I want to continue to work with the sector absolutely recognize the challenge there is the latest chagas income figures a 38,000 when you consider the output of the costs for long-term leasing of land and the price the farmers are paying in that space if you're not if they're farming more than their own land the the input costs in terms of machinery and the depreciation and the very high cost there of replacement machinery and then all the other input costs it is a very you know the risk reward in terms of that investment is very challenging in that space in a minute and that's why I will continue to work with the tillage sector provide targeted support given the importance of the sector within the wider agriculture industry and to deliver on the commitment of the program for government to invest significantly in the tillage sector over the next five years