ICSA president Dermot Kelleher has called on Teagasc to clarify their forecasts for net margins on beef, suckler, and sheep farms for 2022. “It looks to us in ICSA as if the report is glossing over the likelihood that dairy incomes will be 10-15 times higher per hectare than cattle and sheep incomes.” Mr Kelleher was reacting to the updated Situation and Outlook for Irish Agriculture published today (Wednesday, 13 April) which has attempted to put numbers on what the massive cost escalations mean in practice for farmers. “The document is an attempt to understand what the consequences of war in Ukraine are in terms of costs, but there is much more precise data given in relation to pigs and dairying than there is for the low-income sectors. This is not good enough and it is vital that the Government gets a full picture of how input cost escalation is not evenly affecting all farm sectors.”
“The reality is that the Government is not facing up to the fact that the beef, suckler, and sheep sectors are much more vulnerable than the dairying sector. The dairying sector is being supported in every conceivable way by dairy processors but the same is not true in the meat sectors. We see that the dairy sector is looking at a milk price double what it was six years ago, and dairy farmers are entitled to that. But the beef and sheep sectors are not getting that level of increase and ICSA has made it clear that beef price needs to be at least €6/kg.”
“We see that the Teagasc report has given estimates of net margin (or profitability) for the dairy and pig sectors and compared these with previous years. This is more precise than what we see in the beef and sheep reports. The report suggests that net margin will be down by 25% on sucklers and 16% on beef farms whereas it suggests that sheep farmers will have a net margin of €110/ha. We would really need to see what is the actual per hectare net margin for beef and sucklers. However, it seems to suggest that dairy farm net margins will be ten to fifteen times higher per hectare than cattle and sheep systems.”
“If this turns out to be the case, then the entire CAP strategy of the Government will turn out to be a farce as it has completely failed to adequately support lower income and lower intensity farm systems. It also will require a radically different approach to the current feed and fodder crisis. The Government will have to face up to the disastrous implications for the wider community of farmers in the cattle and sheep sectors in a much more proactive way and with a much more ambitious financial support package.”
ENDS
