A Clare farmers’ representative is imploring the Agriculture Minister to put an adequate fodder scheme in place to help all those affected by persistent challenging weather conditions.
It comes as the Minister for Agriculture has held a meeting of the National Fodder and Food Security Committee today, amid an ongoing feed crisis.
Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue requested today’s meeting of the National Fodder and Food Security Committee earlier this week, amid growing concern from farmers over persistent challenging weather conditions.
Some have been unable to carry out spring planting, fertiliser spreading and livestock turnout due to seemingly endless rain since September, while field work has been brought to a halt.
This past week, all regions of the country received higher rainfall totals than average for the time of year and Met Éireann says all soils are currently saturated, with poorly drained soils waterlogged.
The forecaster has warned that further rainfall is expected over the coming seven days, but a slight improvement is expected, with some light soils trafficable by the end of the week.
The Clare County Chair of the ICMSA is imploring the Agriculture Minister to announce an adequate fodder scheme, open to all farmers, saying last year’s scheme didn’t go far enough.
O’Callaghan’s Mills farmer, Martin McMahon is warning that if this crisis isn’t averted, it’s the consumer that’ll suffer in the long run.
The newly-appointed Chair of the Irish Farmers Association insists, however, that a coordinated approach is needed from all stakeholders to prevent the current situation from deteriorating further.
Feakle farmer Stephen Walsh believes there are solutions within the sector to manage the situation, rather than always running to the Government in times of crisis.
You can listen to the full interview below.
