The final report of the Food Vision Tillage Group has recommended that an immediate financial support package be put in place for the sector for the 2024 growing season.

This is one of 28 recommendations outlined in the report, the finalised version of which has been published by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) today (Tuesday, May 14).

The support for the 2024 growing season would recognise the current significant challenges facing the sector, and prevent a loss in tillage area.

The recommendation did not outline a monetary value of any such support, but said that an identification of a funding source was a key factor to consider.

According to the report, funding in the order of €60 million/year for five years would be needed to pursue the recommendations in the report and to achieve a target of 400,000ha under tillage by 2030, which would reflect the financial loss to the sector in direct income payments under the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The Food Vision Tillage Group report is the third of three Food Vision reports that have been published across different sectors.

The Food Vision Dairy Group report, and the Food Vision Beef and Sheep Group report, have both been published over the course of the last two years.

These groups and their reports are offshoots of Food Vision 2030, Ireland's agri-food strategy to 2030, which puts a focus on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction and environmental measures.

This latest report on tillage contains 28 recommendations grouped into 10 policy areas.

Those policy areas are: tillage supports; availability and access to land; adding value; availability and sustainable use of plant protection products; risk management; environmental sustainability; research, education and advice; competitiveness and efficiency; anaerobic digestion; and organic tillage.

Under the tillage supports heading, four recommendations are made, one of which is the aforementioned immediate support for the 2024 growing season (recommendation 2).

The other recommendations in the area of supports are:

Recommendation 1 - Introduction of a Tillage Expansion and Sustainability Scheme to replace the Tillage Incentive Scheme, in order to provide longer-term support with an environmental focus;
Recommendation 3 - Examining existing supports for tillage farmers:
Recommendation 4 - Developing industry-led initiatives that support the economic and environmental sustainability of tillage growers:

These first four recommendations, along with three others, are classed as "priority actions" for either immediate or short-term implementation by government.

The other three priority actions are as follows:

Recommendation 5 - Facilitating and encouraging the exchange of organic manure between livestock and tillage farmers by tasking the Agriculture Water Quality Working Group to develop proposals to facilitate an increase in the transfer of organic manure to tillage farms;
Recommendation 9 - Driving the preferential use of Irish feed grain and protein, and exploiting opportunities for value-added Irish feed:
Recommendation 20 - Ensuring the sustainable and safe use of wastewater and other industrial sludges and bio-based fertilisers to agricultural land:

The full suite of 28 recommendations are outlined below:

Tillage supports:
Availability and access to land:
Adding value:
Availability and sustainable use of plant protection products:
Risk management:
Environmental sustainability:
Research, education and advice:
Competitiveness and efficiency:
Anaerobic digestion:
Organic tillage: