GRAIN FARMERS say they face huge losses unless the weather improves within the next week as some of the €400 million harvest has already been lost.
Irish Farmers' Association national grain committee chairman Colum McDonnell said yesterday that growers, especially those in the north and midlands, were experiencing grave difficulties.
The harvesting of the winter crops of barley, oats and oilseed rape should be over, he said, but the poor weather had stalled the harvest and in some areas harvesting was turning into a salvage situation.
"The harvesting of the main crop, which should have been two million tonnes this year, generally begins in mid-August but the extreme bad weather has now held that back," he said.
"Unless we see a rapid and improved turnaround in weather conditions, this week growers are looking at severe yield losses due to high moistures, and crop breakdown and difficult ground conditions." He added that even if the weather did improve, the soil is highly saturated and traffic from heavy machinery can cause serious damage, which will have a knock-on effect for next year's crop.
He said the prospects for the harvest and significant increases in costs combined with falling prices will have a severe impact on growers' profitability this year and would lead to a reassessment of plans for next year.
Irish farmers, who produce more grain per hectare than any other farmers in the world, increased their plantings this year in expectation of higher prices caused by drought in some major producing countries and the demand for grain for fuel.
However, the international price for grain has continued to fall in line with oil prices and the bonanza farmers expected from the 250,000 hectares planted this year may not materialise.