Government will not be found wanting in support for farmers – Hayden

Vivienne Clarke

Minister of State Martin Hayden has said the Government will not be found wanting in terms of support for farmers under stress because of the continuing wet weather.

Mr Hayden told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show that “nothing is off the table” in terms of support.

“This is a fluid situation, if you pardon the pun. Farmers are under real stress. We've spent over €120 million on two fodder schemes over the last two years. That was a very different set of circumstances for farmers.

"To make fodder was really expensive after the Ukrainian crisis with high energy costs. So Government stepped in to support farmers to make more fodder. That's why we don't have a shortage now.

“This has been an unprecedented winter with the winter starting much earlier and animals being housed back in September instead of late October, and to not have those animals turned out to grass now in April again is unprecedented. And what I'm saying is nothing is off the table as the situation develops.”

Mr Hayden said that the situation would continue to be monitored. Obviously there was a need for working capital and finance (for the sector), he said. “My point is Government has never been found wanting in the past to support the sector, to support our farmers.

“I understand the stress that they're under and everything remains on the table. So that's as clear as I can be as we monitor and as we work with farmers and farm organisations, with industry, with feed merchants and the cooperatives. And obviously, the likes of Teagasc who have a key role to play in terms of advising farmers as to what is a really difficult period.”

The Minister of State acknowledged that farmers had experienced “a double whammy” as it had been a “really challenging period” before Christmas in terms of sowing winter crops. There were also challenges in later sowing around control of disease.

When asked if supports would be made if the wet weather continued for the next 10 days, a key time for sowing, Mr Hayden said everything remained in the table to support farmers.

“This has been a really unprecedented winter. The challenge is that the grass is there, it's there to be had, but we can't get the animals out on to it to the same extent. If the rain stops in the next week and we get that dry period that you would expect this time of the year the issue will stabilise.

"But if it doesn’t Government remains ready to make sure that we use every lever available to us to continue to support farmers and our exports, respectively.”

Mr Hayden said that business models in farming had adapted and changed in reaction to climate change challenges. “This has been an unprecedented winter. From September to April there hasn’t been a break.

"No farmer has caught a break here at all. It is impacting them. We do farm very differently than we did even five or 10 years ago, and we continue to adapt. But right now, when we are in this, this moment of severe pressure on our farmers, it is right the Government stands up and supports them.”