IFA Rural Development Chair John Curran has called on the Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon to put fodder supports in place that will inject money into farm accounts.

‘Farmers are being encouraged to complete fodder budgets and act early, reduce demand or secure whatever fodder/ forage they can and stretch available stocks with greater amounts of straw/ lower quality feed and concentrates now, rather than wait for stocks to deplete.’

While he said this makes sense, he added that farmers will need financial help.

‘Cash reserves have been run down quicker than fodder reserves. September can be a cash hungry month with children returning to school and college. Meaningful financial supports will be key in the short-term to help struggling farm families. The supports the Minister announced last week won’t be nearly enough to mitigate the growing on-farm challenges.’

Mr Curran said the Minister should get the allocated funding from the EU Fertiliser Strategy (with maximum co-financing) into farmers’ pockets as soon as possible.

‘Get the 2026 BISS payments brought forward too and sort out any residual issues surrounding individual cases or delayed ACRES, TAMS, Farming for Water payments without delay. These will make a tangible difference and give farmers options. When you have the resources, you can plan. When you haven’t, things can appear even bleaker.’

IFA Hill Farming chair James Gallagher added that it’s imperative too that the Minister and the Department give clear assurances to farmers who were not responsible for starting the various wildfires around the country that they will not face delayed payments or other adverse consequences as a result.

‘Many of these farmers were central to rescue/ recovery efforts, limiting the devastation of these fires, so to impose further financial hardship on them would be completely unjust and unfair. It simply can’t happen.