Opinion: Suspending straw measure is not the end of the world

Courtesy of the Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM), the Irish government paid out €12.3 million to tillage farmers. It is vitally important that these funding levels are maintained for the tillage sector.

In a way, the vehicle used by Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue in achieving this aim, is irrelevant.

He is proposing to suspend the SIM for 2024, so, surely the aim of the farming organisations now must be to secure a funding commitment in kind from the government.

I sense this may be the game afoot. With Budget 2025 fast approaching, the agricultural minister may opt to resurrect the SIM monies under the aegis of a new tillage support measure.

Let’s not forget that SIM has been shown to have a very beneficial impact on lowering the carbon footprint values of tillage farms.

So, it would have to be brought back in again next year as part of Ireland’s response to climate change.

In fact, the Irish government sold the principle of SIM to Brussels on this very basis. A part-funding commitment from the European Commission was secured up to 2027 with this core objective in mind.

So, the very clear advice to tillage farmers is to forget chopping straw in 2024 - start baling.

The reality is that straw will make a monumental price over the coming months. If it’s not included in dairy and beef finishing rations, then it will be used for bedding.

The real crisis facing Irish agriculture is the possibility of severe fodder shortages impacting on farms over the coming months.

Many farming businesses ran out of silage last winter, and as we all know, grass growth rates have been very challenging in 2024 up to this point.

The reality is that grass silage will be made on farms up to and including the month of October this year.

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Straw availability will factor prominently into the fodder availability calculations that are number-crunched on farms the length and breadth of Ireland over the coming weeks.

And so is the case with all commodities - prices increase when supplies start to come under pressure.

The reality is, that the farming organisations should see the minister’s decision on the SIM as an opportunity.

This assumes, of course, that they can start to think outside the box when it comes to developing a Plan B.    

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