ICSA rural development chair Edmond Phelan has said the escalating cost of fuel is pushing farmers to the edge, with the cost of carrying out basic farm operations becoming increasingly unsustainable.

“Farmers are being squeezed from every direction and fuel is now becoming a crippling cost of producing food. Budget 2027 must deliver real action to bring down the cost of fuel and protect the viability of food production,” he said.

‘Farmers cannot simply use less fuel because prices have gone up. The tractor still has to run, livestock still has to be moved, slurry still has to be spread and essential works still has to be done. But farmers cannot pass these rising costs onto the marketplace.”

He added that there is a very real danger that the cost of production is becoming more unsustainable for more and more farmers.

“The Government has to recognise the seriousness of the situation and act. This is not about giving farmers a little extra help. It is about whether farmers can continue to produce food when the cost of doing the basic work of farming is becoming to high.”

ICSA submitted a detailed set of fuel and cost-of-production demands to to government minister last week, ahead of Budget 2027.

They include the abolishment of carbon tax on agricultural diesel and if the full abolition is not delivered the ICSA is demanding an immediate reduction of at least 80%.  They  also wants the Government to introduce an overall cap on its tax take from fuel and reduce the vat on agricultural diesel, which currently stands at 13.5%.

Other demands submitted include the introduction of permanent agricultural fuel tax relief and as well as reopening and extending the fuel income support scheme and reducing the vat on kerosene to 9%.