THE fine harvest, low interest rates and high prices for cereal and straw are luring farmers back into cereal production. Tillage experts at Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, believe the acreage of tillage planted so far this year has increased dramatically.
However, Irish farmers are not planting all the cereals they are allowed to under the complex rules of the EU which control cereal production.
Last year farmers failed to plant 100,000 acres of cereals which would have been allowed by the EU. But this year, according to the Teagasc tillage expert at its centre in Fermoy, Co Cork, Mr Gerry McCarthy, farmers are moving back into cereal growing.
"We estimate that because of the good planting conditions last autumn, the winter cereal acreage around here is up by about 20 per cent," he said.
"While it is too early to predict what will happen with the full spring plantings, it is already clear that there will be a decent increase in acreage."
Mr McCarthy said farmers were being assisted by the fact that they could now plant spring cereals as early as mid January.
"Two things are happening. People who fled the cereals scene in 1985/86 seasons because of the bad weather are now coming back on the scene.
"In addition, progressive, professional cereal farmers are expanding their plantings to take advantage of the current situation."
He said it was evident that with good premiums being paid by the EU, decent returns from the market place, high yields and a good price for straw, farmers would be attracted back into cereals.
"The only barrier to explaining the sector is that conacre [rented land] is becoming very expensive. The price has gone up from around £100 per acre to £190-£220 per acre in a very short space of time and that is creating problems.
Last year farmers planted about 700,000 acres of cereals and produced about 1.6 million tonnes of grain. In addition, nearly 70,000 acres of land was set aside under the compulsory regulations of the' EU which demanded that 10 per cent of cereal land be taken out of production.
Fifteen thousand farmers applied to the Department of Agriculture for grants to grow cereals and only 2,000 of these planted more than 200 acres of grain.