Farming: Food production costs rocket while prices stagnate
'We need the Government to understand that just crossing your fingers and hoping for the war to end and sanity to prevail is just not a policy.'
The President of ICMSA, Denis Drennan, has warned that the price surge in both fuel and fertiliser is now causing widespread panic throughout the agri sector, and he warned the Government that “the situation is running away on us all”.
Mr Drennan said that behind the immediate problem of purchasing fertilisers for this summer’s grass and rocketing energy and fuel prices was the reality that farmers were already ground down by falling or stagnant dairy and beef prices.
“Farmers sourcing inputs and services are seeing prices surge and are being particularly hammered by the surge in green diesel price – which is well above that of white diesel.
"The question has now become how farmers are meant to keep going when their day-to-day running costs and inputs have gone up proportionally and when their prices – whether for dairy or beef – are stagnant or slumping – demonstrably and substantially below prices this time last year?
"ICMSA is not sure that the Government appreciates just how close we are to primary food production just seizing up, where farmers cannot afford to farm because the prices they are receiving are coming nowhere near what it is costing them to keep farming.
"There’s no point in being melodramatic here, but Minister (Martin) Heydon and his Cabinet colleagues must understand that we are coming up to that point very, very rapidly indeed,” said Mr Drennan.
He dismissed the five cents per litre reduction in excise last week as “hilariously inadequate” and he said that the Government must “brace itself” and look again at the 17 cents per litre that goes on the Carbon Tax.
“We need the Government to understand that just crossing your fingers and hoping for the war to end and sanity to prevail is just not a policy.
"Farmers have been producing food at a loss, that was the situation even before the outbreak of war and it has now got substantially worse.
"Now we are in a situation where we are still making no income, but our costs are multiplying on a weekly basis. Something has got to give here and we are warning the Irish Government that unless meaningful reductions are made to the current costs of producing food then we are hurtling towards a breakdown of our flagship farming and primary food production sector,” said Mr Drennan.
