As the Food Vision tillage group meets this week, there are a few basics that could be carried out immediately to make life a little easier on tillage farmers and provide them with some support, which in turn would help to at least maintain the area.
With an estimated 8,000ha leaving tillage this year, maintaining area will be a struggle, not to mind increasing it, which is the Government’s target.
A reality check is needed. The target to increase the area by 52,000ha is a big jump with input prices at record highs, grain prices falling and land leaving the system.
Increase the Straw Incorporation
Measure’s budget
The Straw Incorporation Scheme has to continue to provide a payment to all who apply – €250/ha for cereals and €150/ha for oilseed rape. This year, the budget has reduced by €5m to €10m.
In 2022, over €11m was paid out to farmers under the scheme. This season, while there are less cereals there are 4,500ha more oilseed rape, which farmers will be expecting a €150/ha chopping payment on.
Farmers have this payment included in their income calculations and oilseed rape prices have dropped dramatically this year.
The current target in the Government’s Climate Action Plan is under ambitious. It targets 35,000ha to be incorporated by 2025 and 55,000ha to be incorporated by 2030.
However, the 2025 target has already been exceeded and the 2030 target was nearly met under the scheme in 2022 and was probably exceeded if chopping outside of the scheme was included. This happened before the Climate Action Plan was published.
Tillage farmers chopped approximately 52,480ha of straw under the scheme in 2022, but much more was chopped outside of this.
Exclude under-sowing from the Tillage Incentive Scheme
The Tillage Incentive Scheme was introduced to increase fodder supplies and the area of grain and tillage in the country.
However, crops can be under-sown with grass in this scheme which means that a farmer can plough a field of grass, plant it immediately with a crop of barley and grass and cut the crop a few months later for silage. This field has never really left grassland, yet the farmer will receive a payment of €400/ha.
Ploughing grass.
Also, the grassland that will be established will most likely be sprayed with a herbicide which will not be clover-safe, so the grass that will be established will not include clover and will not be helping to reduce nitrogen fertiliser use, going against other climate targets laid out in the Department’s roadmap to Climate Neutrality Ag Climatise.
At present, this payment could be helping to drive land rental prices.
A fodder scheme similar to 2018 should be reintroduced, without the fast-growing grass crops which have caused weed problems on some farms. This scheme saw farmers paid €100/ha to grow forage crops.
It would encourage co-operation between livestock and tillage farmers. It could start small with forage rape, stubble turnip and other fast-growing forage crops and expand to encourage some sort of arrangement to share slurry and grow other crops like maize and beet.
Even if uptake is low, the scheme should remain and be allowed to grow over time. As in 2018, payments should also be available for those growing the crops for their own livestock. This would provide some support for mixed farmers, who are being hit hard by convergence.
Cover crops.
If co-operation is to improve between tillage and livestock farmers then the date to allow animals to graze these crops under ACRES needs to be brought back from 1 January to its original date in GLAS of 1 December.
Weather windows need to be made the most of to protect land when grazing and animals cannot eat crops which are headed out.
Improve options under TAMS
The TAMS list needs to allow people to start a tillage business and provide farmers moving into tillage with basic equipment like it does for other farming sectors.
At present, TAMS is creating inequality among farmers.
People starting off might need a plough, a grain trailer, a sprayer with rate control, which does not cost a fortune because it has automatic shut-off and every other technology available. They need a fertiliser spreader and not a spreader which costs €50,000.
A grain trailer.
It is totally unfair that a livestock farmer can choose fencing, bulk tanks and parlours, to set up an enterprise, while the tillage list limits farmers to machinery which is seen as environmentally friendly. Remember, tillage has the lowest carbon footprint of the main farming sectors. TAMS for tillage farmers is not yet open for 2023.
Ease up on nitrates regulations
Nitrates rules are one of the biggest things affecting tillage farmers this year and are creating inequality among farmers.
Nitrates rules are currently encouraging dairy farmers to rent more land to dilute stocking rates. The cows are grazing in the same place. The dung and slurry is on the same ground.
It is not being carried 30 miles to the rented block of land in most cases. So, the benefits to water quality are questionable.
An increased buffer at watercourses on tillage farms to 3m for all crops and 6m for late harvested crops is taking land out of production.
Issues around water quality in tillage are not pesticide exceedances and, nutrient wise, the issue is mainly nitrates which go to groundwater through the soil and a buffer will have little impact on this.
In the meantime, animals can walk into drains and cross watercourses. Where they are fenced, on derogation farms, only 1.5m is needed, not 3m.
Fencing animals out might have more of an impact than cultivations.
The tight turnaround on cultivations at harvest is another issue and one which creates issues around farm safety.
Last year was also likely to have caused significant phosphorus loss in dust as farmers were forced to cultivate in extremely dry conditions. Green cover establishment was already a requirement and could have been left as is. Encourage the growing of catch crops and fodder crops, encourage straw incorporation and the green cover will be established.
Stubble cultivation.
Carbon footprinting Irish grain should be an automatic on the list and wont happen overnight. It should be a priority.Movement is needed on making blackgrass a noxious weed to protect the land that is in tillage.
As the Food Vision tillage group meets this week, there are a few basics that could be carried out immediately to make life a little easier on tillage farmers and provide them with some support, which in turn would help to at least maintain the area.
With an estimated 8,000ha leaving tillage this year, maintaining area will be a struggle, not to mind increasing it, which is the Government’s target.
A reality check is needed. The target to increase the area by 52,000ha is a big jump with input prices at record highs, grain prices falling and land leaving the system.
Increase the Straw Incorporation
Measure’s budget
The Straw Incorporation Scheme has to continue to provide a payment to all who apply – €250/ha for cereals and €150/ha for oilseed rape. This year, the budget has reduced by €5m to €10m.
In 2022, over €11m was paid out to farmers under the scheme. This season, while there are less cereals there are 4,500ha more oilseed rape, which farmers will be expecting a €150/ha chopping payment on.
Farmers have this payment included in their income calculations and oilseed rape prices have dropped dramatically this year.
The current target in the Government’s Climate Action Plan is under ambitious. It targets 35,000ha to be incorporated by 2025 and 55,000ha to be incorporated by 2030.
However, the 2025 target has already been exceeded and the 2030 target was nearly met under the scheme in 2022 and was probably exceeded if chopping outside of the scheme was included. This happened before the Climate Action Plan was published.
Tillage farmers chopped approximately 52,480ha of straw under the scheme in 2022, but much more was chopped outside of this.
Exclude under-sowing from the Tillage Incentive Scheme
The Tillage Incentive Scheme was introduced to increase fodder supplies and the area of grain and tillage in the country.
However, crops can be under-sown with grass in this scheme which means that a farmer can plough a field of grass, plant it immediately with a crop of barley and grass and cut the crop a few months later for silage. This field has never really left grassland, yet the farmer will receive a payment of €400/ha.
Ploughing grass.
Also, the grassland that will be established will most likely be sprayed with a herbicide which will not be clover-safe, so the grass that will be established will not include clover and will not be helping to reduce nitrogen fertiliser use, going against other climate targets laid out in the Department’s roadmap to Climate Neutrality Ag Climatise.
At present, this payment could be helping to drive land rental prices.
A fodder scheme similar to 2018 should be reintroduced, without the fast-growing grass crops which have caused weed problems on some farms. This scheme saw farmers paid €100/ha to grow forage crops.
It would encourage co-operation between livestock and tillage farmers. It could start small with forage rape, stubble turnip and other fast-growing forage crops and expand to encourage some sort of arrangement to share slurry and grow other crops like maize and beet.
Even if uptake is low, the scheme should remain and be allowed to grow over time. As in 2018, payments should also be available for those growing the crops for their own livestock. This would provide some support for mixed farmers, who are being hit hard by convergence.
Cover crops.
If co-operation is to improve between tillage and livestock farmers then the date to allow animals to graze these crops under ACRES needs to be brought back from 1 January to its original date in GLAS of 1 December.
Weather windows need to be made the most of to protect land when grazing and animals cannot eat crops which are headed out.
Improve options under TAMS
The TAMS list needs to allow people to start a tillage business and provide farmers moving into tillage with basic equipment like it does for other farming sectors.
At present, TAMS is creating inequality among farmers.
People starting off might need a plough, a grain trailer, a sprayer with rate control, which does not cost a fortune because it has automatic shut-off and every other technology available. They need a fertiliser spreader and not a spreader which costs €50,000.
A grain trailer.
It is totally unfair that a livestock farmer can choose fencing, bulk tanks and parlours, to set up an enterprise, while the tillage list limits farmers to machinery which is seen as environmentally friendly. Remember, tillage has the lowest carbon footprint of the main farming sectors. TAMS for tillage farmers is not yet open for 2023.
Ease up on nitrates regulations
Nitrates rules are one of the biggest things affecting tillage farmers this year and are creating inequality among farmers.
Nitrates rules are currently encouraging dairy farmers to rent more land to dilute stocking rates. The cows are grazing in the same place. The dung and slurry is on the same ground.
It is not being carried 30 miles to the rented block of land in most cases. So, the benefits to water quality are questionable.
An increased buffer at watercourses on tillage farms to 3m for all crops and 6m for late harvested crops is taking land out of production.
Issues around water quality in tillage are not pesticide exceedances and, nutrient wise, the issue is mainly nitrates which go to groundwater through the soil and a buffer will have little impact on this.
In the meantime, animals can walk into drains and cross watercourses. Where they are fenced, on derogation farms, only 1.5m is needed, not 3m.
Fencing animals out might have more of an impact than cultivations.
The tight turnaround on cultivations at harvest is another issue and one which creates issues around farm safety.
Last year was also likely to have caused significant phosphorus loss in dust as farmers were forced to cultivate in extremely dry conditions. Green cover establishment was already a requirement and could have been left as is. Encourage the growing of catch crops and fodder crops, encourage straw incorporation and the green cover will be established.
Stubble cultivation.
Carbon footprinting Irish grain should be an automatic on the list and wont happen overnight. It should be a priority.Movement is needed on making blackgrass a noxious weed to protect the land that is in tillage. 
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