Proposed silage grant for Irish farmers is a ‘step in the right direction’

The proposed €100 per hectare silage making grant is aimed at assisting farmers with the increased silage contractor costs during the silage harvest of 2022.

Welcoming the announcement, the Association of Farm and Forestry Contractors (FCI) said focussing this grant aid on silage making will ensure that farm contractors, who provide a silage harvesting service, can be paid the necessary fuel surcharges to maintain their operations, which are proving essential to modern Irish farming.

While the association is “concerned about the late announcement of the grant”, they recognise that, given the significant fuel cost increases that silage contractors have faced - as their machines consume in the region of 200 million litres of fuel - the total amount of the grant, at €55 million, now mirrors almost exactly the increased fuel costs for farm and forestry contractors, compared with the 2021 costs.

FCI believes that the silage grant should be focussed on meeting the additional silage contractor costs, where contractors can provide invoices as records of where silage crops were harvested.

John Hughes, national chair of FCI, commented: “The announcement of this proposed grant is a clear acknowledgement of the need to financially support farmers to help them to pay their silage contractors for the significantly increased costs, just one of which is fuel, now being incurred as we prepare for the 2022 national silage harvest.

“The proposed €100 per hectare silage grant will help farmers in some way to pay their silage contractor a fair fuel surcharge for the increased costs now being incurred primarily, not exclusively, due to diesel cost increases.

“There are also other significant cost increases, such as machinery parts, lubrication oils and the purchase of new tractors and machines, that have pushed up contractor charges in 2022.”

He continued: “The cost of the exorbitant agricultural diesel price increases during 2022 can now, in some way, be defrayed by the proposed government aid mechanism in the form of the silage grant, to allow farmers to meet the additional silage contractor charges for 2022.

“This can also support the viability of many silage contracting businesses that were facing huge and unsustainable cost increases for their services to farming this year.

“This silage harvesting grant has come at a time when all farm and forestry contractors were burdened with an additional two cent per litre of fuel carbon tax cost at the start of this month, pushing diesel costs even higher.

“At FCI we are still campaigning for equity in terms of the carbon tax double deduction under Section 664A of the 2012 Finance Act, which would allow farm and forestry contractors the opportunity to reclaim the carbon tax portion of their agri-diesel costs, as a tax credit, in the same that farmers can benefit from carbon tax relief.”

Mr Hughes said the FCI recognise the “clear but belated understanding” by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Teagasc, as well as farm organisations, of the “huge” cost increases incurred by contractors for 2022, and why the role of the farm and forestry contractor must be supported.

He added: “The national priority is now to ensure that we have the largest silage harvest on record.

“That will demand a concerted effort, led primarily by silage contractors, who will provide the skills, machines and energy to meet this national challenge.

“We appreciate that this silage grant will go some way in providing the financial support farmers need to ensure that they can pay their silage contractor a fair price and on time, for the work done as we all plan to work together to avert a fodder crisis for the winter of 2022.

“We now urge the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to put a meaningful strategy in place, that recognises the essential role of the silage contractor in this proposed silage grant aid programme,” Mr Hughes ended.

Macra na Feirme national president, John Keane, described it as a “step in the right direction” and said the minister’s move to support fodder security is welcome.

“At current fertilizer prices, this will support farmers to purchase approximately one tonne,” he stated.

“Much more is going to be needed in order to ensure that fodder security and indeed food security for next autumn and winter.”

According to Teagasc, one tonne of CAN contains 270kgs of nitrogen.

At peak grass growth, the response to chemical nitrogen applied is; 1kg of nitrogen can grow up to 50kgs of grass dry matter.

One tonne of CAN nitrogen could, therefore, grow 13,500kgs of grass dry matter or 13.5 tonnes of dry matter.

With a suckler cow eating approximately 13kg/DM silage per day, this package will support the feeding of six to seven suckler cows over a five-month wintering period.

Mr Keane continued: “What is now needed is clarity on the detail of the package and the requirements of farmers to access the support.

“There is also a need for Teagasc to ascertain the potential gap in fodder that may exist after the package is availed of by farmers.

“With cash flow a continued issue for smaller farmers, this package needs to be available quickly to provide direct support,” he concluded.