Cereal growers in the northwest have confirmed that both winter and spring cereals have enjoyed a very positive start.
Mark McCollum, who farms close to the town of Limavady in Co. Derry, said: “I have just finished drilling spring barley crops into almost perfect seed beds. And winter crops are also looking tremendously well at the present time.
“The only cloud in the sky is the very challenging prices available for cereals right now.”
Like many other cereal growers, McCollum is dismayed at the significant disparity that has arisen between livestock and grain prices over recent months.
Farm gate returns for milk, beef, pork, and poultry products have strengthened considerable over the past twelve months. Meanwhile, prices for cereals have flat lined.
The Co. Derry tillage farmer sits on the Seeds and Cereals’ Committee of the Ulster Farmers’ Union.
He wants to see Northern Ireland’s Minister of Agriculture, Andrew Muir, acting to further support the needs of farmers growing crops.
Cereal growers
McCollum is also aware of the growing disparity in the support levels available for the arable sectors – north versus south.
He said: “Here in Northern Ireland, we have nothing like the TAMS (Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme) scheme that is currently available in the Republic,” said McCollum.
“Yes, we have a Protein Crops’ Scheme. But it does not suit all arable farmers. For me, spring beans are not an option, as the harvest date is too late in the season.
“The bottom line is this: arable production must be recognised by the Stormont Executive as a significant contributor to agriculture as a whole.”
Other challenges coming down the track for the arable sector in Northern Ireland include the imposition of increased taxes on fertiliser inputs and the outworking of the Soil Nutrient Health Scheme (SNHS) .
According to McCollum: “It is now the case that the SNHS results generated for individual farms are to be used in the drawing up of nutrient management plans.
“This additional of use SNHS data was never mentioned when the programme was initially drawn up.
“The deal from the outset was that all information that relates to the out working of the SNHS programme would be maintained for the specific use of the respective farm businesses only.
“Now it seems this is not the case.”
However, McCollum sees hope in the good weather experienced in the northwest in recent weeks.
“But the upside of recent months has been the tremendous establishment rates achieved across all cereal crops.
“Their yield potential is immense: we just need the weather to keep playing ball,” he added.
