Many farmers throughout Carlow and Kilkenny and indeed throughout Ireland, will be glad to see the back of 2008, because it was a horrible year to be involved in farming.
From beginning to end, farmers producing in practically every sector were under pressure. If it wasn’t costs that were increasing, it was sudden drops in product price, and then when we thought that we had suffered enough, we were forced to endure the desperate wet weather during the summer months. In retrospect, it is difficult to remember a more troublesome year, when so many bad things all happened at the one time.
The first couple of months were uneventful enough, but then towards the end of the spring, the cost of fertiliser rose dramatically. This bad news was accompanied by serious predictions that there would be a real drop in both cereal and milk prices. Both disasters actually happened and the cuts were worse than predicted in both instances. The price that farmers received for their grain dropped by a massive 28 per cent on the previous year, and with milk producers reasonably happy with the return for 2007, their profit margins began to be eroded with each passing month of 2008. In the end, the return for milk production was down by almost a quarter on the previous year.
Rising production costs was one of the biggest problems that affected farming incomes during the past year. When oil prices rose it affected everything from tractor diesel to fertiliser, and needless to say, we still have to endure what must be some of the dearest electricity costs in the world. Perhaps some government or other will have the nerve and will to bring some badly-needed competition into the whole area of electricity supply. In my humble opinion the ESB have had it too good for far too long.
It is hard to believe that the weather could have been so bad during the months of July, August, and the early part of September. It forced the cancellation of many agricultural shows throughout the country, and if the rain had not stopped when it did, the National Ploughing Championships in Cuffesgrange this year might not have been held.
That desperate weather brought on another problem which may not be really felt until the early part of next year, that is of course, the availability of fodder for both cattle and sheep. Many farmers were forced to feed silage and hay which had been harvested for this winter, to cattle which had to be housed during last summer. We hear that a number of farmers in the west of Ireland are already experiencing fodder shortages, and I dread to think what the situation will be like towards the end of next February into early March.
The Department of Agriculture provided another problem for Irish farmers during the past year. It is headed at the moment by Brendan Smith who many farmers believe is the weakest Minister for Agriculture in living memory. He still had made no decision on the proposed Sheep Maintenance Payment which was expected long ago, particularly when the same Minister for Agriculture clearly indicated last September that he was going after the unused CAP funds to support the ailing sheep sector.
Minister Smith does not appear to be worried that the Irish sheep industry which is worth €180 million a year in exports could disappear rather quickly if it not helped. I know that he is under pressure with other government ministers fully convinced that Ireland ends at the Naas road. However, he could take example from the French Minister Michael Barnier who clearly indicated that he would deliver for the French sheep farmer even before the recent CAP healthcheck.
As well, he could have decided to pay the new Sheep Maintenance Payment which was the key recommendation in the recent EU Sheep Report by Liam Aylward the Leinster East MEP, and sheep producers would have been reasonably happy. Instead, the silence from the Department of Agriculture is deafening. Hopefully we will have a better farming year during 2009.
