The tillage area is set to shrink this year despite a government drive to ramp up the amount of crops being planted.
inister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue launched a Tillage Incentive Scheme last year, aimed at increasing the amount of tillage and reducing the country’s reliance on imported grains.
However, while the amount of land in tillage grew by 6pc in 2022, sector experts are predicting a reduction this year due to poor autumn planting and demand from the dairy sector driving up the price of rented ground.
The number of specialist tillage farms has declined substantially over the past decade, while the area under tillage crops has fallen by 42pc since 1980.
“The government is looking to increase tillage area to 400,000ha, but from what I see on the ground, tillage farmers are trying to maintain the land they have, rather than increasing,” Teagasc crop specialist Ciaran Collins said.
“We had a decrease in autumn planting and that was weather related, but when that happens in a normal year, it is compensated by higher spring planting, and the evidence is that tillage farmers are finding it hard to hold on to leased land at the moment.”
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Industry specialist PJ Phelan said a reduction of 2-3pc in the area of tillage planted this year is likely due to poor autumn weather and the current increase in land prices.
And while the country’s tillage area increased in 2022 by 6pc (around 20,000ha), agronomist Richard Hackett said there is some evidence a lot of this was grassland put into spring barley for subsequent reseeding last autumn.
“So it wasn’t really for tillage at all. As the scheme required an overall increase in area for an applicant, it was of practically no benefit to existing growers, who could not access more land, especially in tillage areas,” he said.
The Tillage Incentive Scheme will come into play this year, “where farmers plough up a bit of extra land that they might have and plant it in tillage because the scheme only works on ground that was not already in tillage”, he said.
“I don’t think an increase will come from leased land.”
At the same time, auctioneers across the country are reporting record prices being paid for leased land.
Dairy farmers are “trying to rent land in order to stand still rather than expand”, according to Matthew Conroy of Dawson’s estate agents in Carlow.
“Down here, we see dairy farmers taking tillage land to grow maize. They are killing two birds with one stone — supplying some of their own feed while using the extra land to alleviate the nitrates burden,” he said.
Today, the Farming Independent reports that 25ac of naked tillage ground in Laois recently made €575/ac and was leased for five years by a tillage farmer. Nearby, €450/ac was paid by a dairy farmer for a 12ac parcel of naked grazing ground.