Harvest Update - Farming | farming news | cattle prices | ifa

Harvest Update

Written by Cian MacSweeny
Friday, 29 August 2008
Colum McDonnell, IFA National Grain Chairman, has announced estimates that only 30% of the harvest is in at this point in time. Around this time of year, around 60-70% would usually have already been harvested. The IFA National Grain Chairman said that harvesting of the main crop of 2 million tonnes of grain normally begins in mid-August; however the uncharacteristic wet weather has pushed this date back. It appears that the south-east (Wexford and Cork) have fared better than the midlands, where the saturated ground has been causing severe problems. Wheat growing sections of north Dublin, Louth and Meath are also in trouble due to the higher moisture percentages and the extra drying time required. Mr. McDonnell says: "the harvest has been hampered by frequent rain and difficult ground conditions that are affecting the traffic of machines. Every day the crop is in the ground, yields are dropping. Growers desperately need a prolonged dry spell to get their crops in." He continued, saying; "Growers are looking at severe yield losses due to high moistures, straw and crop breakdown and difficult ground conditions. Even if the weather does improve, the soil is near saturation and traffic from heavy machinery will lead to serious damage, which will have a knock-on effect for next year’s crop." Colum McDonnell said that with opportunities for harvesting diminishing, the significant rises in input costs and falling prices, Irish crop growers will experience a serious dip in profits this year and will lead to a re-assessment of plans for next year. The IFA National Grain Chairman concluded, saying; “Two of the main expenditure items – fuel and fertiliser – are up 66% in the last 12 months, adding €250 per hectare to the costs of production. These increases, coupled with a fall in feed grain prices, have created a price/cost squeeze and returns from this year’s harvest will not cover production costs for many growers.”

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