The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association has sought a €50 million package to help farmers offset costs after confirmation by Teagasc that the continuing wet weather is having a severe impact on farming.
Dr Tom Kelly, development manager with Teagasc, the agriculture and food development body, said the current wet spell had resulted in the worst May-June in recent memory, with serious implications for grass growth, silage-making and cereal crops.
Dr Kelly said silage-making was at a standstill, with less than 10 per cent of the normal acreage harvested. Grass growth and grazing conditions were also severely affected, and many animals had been housed due to lack of grass and poor ground conditions.
Farmers were being forced to feed meal in order to maintain milk production from dairy cows and animal performance in beef cattle, he said.
Dr Kelly said that the current difficulties would lead to knock-on problems with grass supply later in the season. The extent of these problems was largely dependent on a rapid pick-up in the weather.
Mr Jim O'Mahony, chief tillage adviser with Teagasc, said the impact on wheat and barley crops was particularly serious.
"Cereal crops are under the highest disease pressure for two decades. Also, up to 20 per cent of the spring barley crop is affected by waterlogging", he said.
Yesterday the president of the ICMSA, Mr Pat O'Rourke, said he was seeking emergency aid to meet the costs of the estimated half-million tonnes of extra animal feed required for rehoused cattle.
He called on the co-operatives to reduce the price of concentrate animal feed to below €170 per tonne and said VAT on silage-making should be reduced to zero.
The ICMSA, he said, would be taking up growing farmer indebtedness with the major banks at national level and he was calling on the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Ms Coughlan, to remove the administrative barriers to farmers qualifying for the Farm Assist Scheme by allowing them to qualify for welfare payments based on their current earnings rather than last year's.