ICSA AGM and Annual Conference Postponed Due to Adverse Weather

IrishFarming.ie — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:27:46 +0000

The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) has postponed its AGM and Annual Conference due to take place on Thursday 7th January in the Strand Hotel, Limerick. The recent unprecedented weather has left many roads impassable, and with further freezing conditions predicted over the coming days, the decision was taken to postpone the event. The AGM will now be rescheduled to take place on the 28th January and the Minister for Agriculture, Brendan Smith TD has been invited to attend.

Serious weather and price problems for Irish tillage farmers

IrishFarming.ie — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:18:16 +0000

This year's harvest is rapidly turning into a nightmare for growers. Disastrous prices and terrible weather would be bad enough, but reports that some of the main players in the trade will only take grain from their own customers have made matters a hell of a lot worse. There are probably enough independent merchants to offset this threat but at a price, and this is the only glimer of light out there for growers at the moment. The outlook in terms of returns remains extremely worrying. Public pronouncements from the trade have put the on-account price for barley close to the €80/t mark. However, merchants admit privately that the price is likely to settle closer to €100/t. This is still a disaster for most farmers. While some of the very best may just about cover their costs with good yields from winter barley, they face heavy losses on spring crops. Growers with average yields will lose on both spring and winter crops. It now appears that the average yield from winter barley will be around 3.4t/ac. At a price of €100/t, this gives a return of €340/ac. However, Teagasc figures show that the growing costs for winter barley range from €450-500/ac. At current price levels, growers will lose between €100-150/ac on winter barley grown on their own land; and a similar amount on spring barley. Those working on conacre are in an even worse situation. This is the second year in a row that tillage farmers have lost heavily. But the financial consequences coming out of this harvest could be more pronounced. Financing the next crop will be a real concern for many growers. Weak grain prices are being driven by the expectation of a bumper maize crop in the US. This is, as yet, just a prediction and the final harvest price will not be known until this crop is in. Farmers are being urged to look at options for farm-to-farm trading, or drying and storage deals with merchants rather than selling from the combine. For now, though, what they need is decent weather so they can at least get cutting.

IrishFarming.ie » weather conditions

ICSA AGM and Annual Conference Postponed Due to Adverse Weather

Serious weather and price problems for Irish tillage farmers