Tillage Sector: Statements Dail Éireann — 2025-10-15 ============================================================ Aindrias Moynihan (FF), Cork North-West I very much welcome the opportunity to have this debate on a hugely important topic, namely, the tillage sector and the phenomenal pressure the people who make it up feel under. It is a sector that is critical to our agrifood sector. It produces quality animal feed, bedding, ingredients for our food and drink sector and contributes over €1.3 billion annually to the agrifood sector. It is hugely important. The tillage sector feels under great pressure, especially over the last two to three years, which have been very difficult. There has been pressure over a prolonged time, with people leaving the sector at a rate of one farmer every week and the area under tillage falling by some 40% over the last 40 years. I had an opportunity to meet with the grain growers group and a number of others as well who are very concerned about the sector from the food security point of view, as well as biodiversity because of the food it provides to wildlife. Tillage crops have a low-carbon footprint, which has implications for climate change. I welcome the funding the Minister has set aside in the budget and the fact there is going to be consultation with various stakeholders on how it will be distributed. There was a great welcome in some quarters for the funding, but the welcome from other quarters may have been less enthusiastic, such as the grain growers I had an opportunity to meet. They had requested a five-year sustainability and expansion programme for tillage with greater funding to allow them to plan further and to have more reliability. They also requested a per-hectare payment of some €350. They have felt under huge pressure over a long time. That is due not just to the price of the crops but also to the way the competition is imbalanced. They have to compete with genetically modified crops coming from abroad. It is a global price and the price of the crop in North America will influence the price they can get here at home. When they produce their crop and send it to the market, they do not know what kind of price they are going to get. They must wait to get a price. They only get one cheque in the year and do not know what will follow it. There is also a great deal of pressure due to land rental costs. There is savage competition, with others being able to outbid them on it. Then we have the rising costs of production, the price of diesel, fertilisers, machinery and so on. There are no quick fixes. I am conscious of the plan the Minister is putting in place with the €50 million. There are other measures that could be introduced to provide support as well. For example, Irish whiskey is a globally known product, and while there is a requirement to use Irish water, there is no requirement for it to contain Irish malt in order to call itself Irish. Is that not a measure for the Minister to take a look at to see if there is an opportunity to ensure that the Irish whiskey industry would have to use Irish produced grain to call it Irish whiskey? That is a practical measure that would support the sector, as it would increase the amount of the product that would be needed. Fáiltím go mór roimh an díospóireacht ar an gceist fhíorthábhachtach seo maidir leis an tslí go bhfuil brú ar fheirmeoirí curadóireachta. Tá siad ag cur ar fáil táirgí atá an-mhaith i gcomhair chúrsaí bia agus dí agus do chothú na n-ainmhithe. Tá brú mór orthu le roinnt blianta anuas ach go háirithe. Tá titim thart ar 40% ar an achar talún atá faoi ghrán faoin tráth seo le 40 bliain anuas. Aithním go raibh dul chun cinn leis an maoiniú a cuireadh ar fáil leis an gcáinaisnéis le déanaí agus an tslí go mbeidh an tAire ag plé leis na grúpaí éagsúla mar gheall ar conas an t-airgead sin a chaitheamh, ach ní raibh gach aon ghrúpa lánsásta in aon chor leis. Bhíodar faoi an-chuid brú agus bhíodar ag lorg i bhfad níos mó airgid chun tacú leo. Díreoidh mé ar shlí amháin praiticiúil go bhféadfaí cabhrú leo nach mbeadh costas rómhór leis. Baineann sé le huisce beatha atá á tháirgeadh sa tír seo. Tuigim nach gá ach go n-úsáidfí uisce ón tír seo chun go mbeifí ábalta fuisce Éireannach a ghlaoch air. Surely is féidir a chinntiú go mbeadh orthu grán ón tír seo a úsáid. Neartódh sé na feirmeoirí atá ann agus bheadh éileamh breise ar ghrán. Is céim phraiticiúil a bheadh ann. Mar sin, tá go leor céimeanna eile leagtha amach ag na feirmeoirí. Grain growers have laid out a range of other practical steps that could support them. I expect they will reinforce those points with the Minister in his forthcoming engagement with the sector on the distribution of the budget funding. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-10-15/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:13+00:00 Sitting date: 2025-10-15