Tillage Farming Now and in the Future - A Farmer's Viewpoint

INTRODUCTION

First and foremost I would like to start by stating that there will be no statistics or figures in what I have to say this evening. I can well remember going to meetings in which figures were given on the costs of growing a crop, only to burn out the calculator later that evening trying to find out how such a grower could have such low costs or how his machinery costs were so low when mine took a degree in maths to work out. Therefore I will keep it simple and hopefully give you some of my personal thoughts, which you may agree or disagree with but which hopefully we won't fall out over.

In taking a look at the tillage industry, and in particular a farmer's view which is as relevant, and I would go so far as to say more relevant than some of the views put forward by those not engaged directly in the sector, I will draw on my own experiences of growing cereals over the last forty five years. I will briefly look at the past, where we are now and where I would like to see the future for tillage growers amidst all the pessimism and uncertainty that abounds.

THE PAST

The past speaks for itself and looking back it is often soothing to reminisce of how things used to be. However, it is also important to look at the past so as to establish exactly where we are at today and recognise that we have come a long way in cereal growing in a relatively short time period. I am over forty-five years growing cereals and can well remember a time when if you spoke of attaining the yields being achieved today by our top growers, you would be merely laughed at. Such yields back then were only a dream and would be never attainable in our lifetime, or so we thought. I remember getting yields of 2.5 tonnes per acre from wheat and being very glad of attaining such high yields.

So what technological advances brought us from the past to the present. The real technology on tillage farms that allowed yield drive forward came in the early to mid eighties with the systemic fungicides and improved herbicides. As tillage farmers we were very fortunate to have a very solid base of scientific knowledge that had been tried in practice and to An Foras Taluntais, ACOT and now Teagasc we must be grateful for imparting with this knowledge. For those of you who are around as long as I am you have only to glance backwards and this becomes blatantly obvious. As tillage farmers we are very fortunate that the men behind that innovative research, new developments and those in the advisory service bringing this valuable information to the field, were as enthusiastic in their drive to improve the lot of the Irish tillage farmer as we were in our hunger for the knowledge to lift yields and improve profits. In those days there was the classical sponge and water scenario. Tillage farmers were like sponges willing and able to soak up any amount of new technical knowledge that kept pouring like water from research.

THE PRESENT

And so we have arrived at where we are today. How to cope with the present is a far more challenging task and the key factor has to be the ability to adapt to change, be that change for the individual, agricultural advisers, tillage farmers, people in research or any other discipline. In my time as a tillage farmer we have gone through three currencies. The pounds, shilling and pence that until recently we called the old money, the punt that we now call `Irish' and since 1^st January 2001 the Euro. I believe this shows the relevance of how the world didn't stand still and if we stand still in agriculture or in cereal production, if even for a brief moment, we are doomed to go backwards. That we don't want given the time, resources and commitment that have been expended to bring us to where we are today.

Whatever about the past that we may have liked or disliked and whatever hopes we may have for the future, where we are at the present time in the tillage is entirely relevant to all gathered here today.

There are a few points that I would like to raise that impinge directly on the ability of any tillage farmer to continue to farm and grow his business with any degree of certainty.

1. The first of these is land availability and logically leading on from this is who owns the land. We live in an area of North County Dublin and I will just give you an indication of who owns what. If I were to take a land area of three square miles, which is just about two thousand acres, it is fair to say that only ten per cent of the agricultural area within that three square miles is owned by farmers. We have to ask ourselves why this is so as I am in no doubt that the majority of the land area surrounding any major town or city in Ireland at this stage is not owned by farmers but may be managed by farmers.
   Firstly we have no land policy and the question has to be asked as to why this is so. Why don't we have and why can't we have a land policy similar to what operates in any other country other than the UK. In my opinion there should be a land policy in place that would be favourable towards directing land, be that outright purchase or conacre, into the hands of trained farmers. Any person who has not got the recognised qualifications or adequate experience should not be entitled to claim any grant or subsidy of any kind. In our area we are in the situation that we have a shrinking pool of `eligible land' that is in the hands of companies or developers, as the capital and its suburbs continue to expand outwards this is shrinking at an ever-increasing rate. Once growing houses this `eligibility' is lost forever more.
   You might ask how I would handle that. Twenty years ago I proposed a remedy. Why not make the situation for non-farmers, companies and speculative developers purchasing land zoned agricultural less attractive that it is at present. I would like to see a high rate of stamp duty of at least seventy per cent imposed on the non-farmer purchasing land zoned agricultural and then they might think twice about it. If it is still a viable proposition then by all means let them go ahead but at least favour the market towards the true farmer. If the relevant bodies such at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, The EPA and An Taisce see the farmer as the custodian of the environment then fundamental changes are required if the land base is to be vested in our interest. It is worth noting that ninety per cent of land sold in Ireland for development is not sold by farmers, but is sold by developers who are accumulating agricultural land at a higher price than its agricultural value but are prepared to wait in anticipation of rezoning. The situation has got progressively worse over the last four years as the Celtic Tiger roared throughout the country. If you just take a look at your nearest town over that time you will find that land that came to the market ended up with a developer either on a long-term option or straight purchase.
   
   
2. Secondly is the whole area the cost of land that is available on the conacre system. We must look at the total costs coming back after having taken an extra field or farm and let each grower do his or her own sums rather than having a set figure of what you can or should be paying. I wouldn't dare tell any farmer that he was paying too much for conacre and each grower has to know his or her own ceiling for each field. The cost that you or I can afford to pay is relevant to the net result achieved. I am very conscious of setting the scene regarding the cost of land for our young farmers going into the future and there will be a breaking point when you just have to walk away from conacre that is too dear. It may not be the easiest thing to do but the more of us that do just that, the more realistic the market place will become as regards renting land at an affordable price.
   This in particular manifests itself in Fingal where over the last four years we would have lost no less than three thousand acres of eligible cereal land in the Swords, Donabate, Portrane, Malahide, Baldoyle area. This invariably is also happening to a lesser extent in other areas and its not something that needs to be proved. Just wait long enough and it becomes a reality, the land is gone. This leads on to the Fischler proposals in which there would no longer be the differentiation between `eligible and `non-eligible' land which at the moment seems to be the only means by which we can maintain our cereal acreage, not even mention increasing scale. If our base area of eligible land in Fingal continues to be eroded as has happened inside the last five years, I must ask the question, `Are we to continue in cereal farming and can somebody in authority tell us how it can be done?'
   
   
3. The big one and the most important is the price for grain. On that score one must ask why the tillage industry cannot lay down a marker for grain prices in the early part of the cropping year.
   There is a great need for co-operation between the IFA, Teagasc, the millers, feed compounders and the grain traders. Its unfortunate that any consultation doesn't take place until July or August instead of the previous November or December. We are the only industry that does not have a minimum price for our product and most years this is not established until a number of weeks after the harvest have passed.
   Consequently as commercial grain growers we have to commit a level of inputs into the industry irrespective of price at the end. Wouldn't it be great to know by the end of January what the minimum price for grain in the coming harvest would be? Then we could all work with our budgeted returns and tailor inputs so as to leave a margin rather than incurring a level of expenditure that will leave a negative margin.
   There are a number of stakeholders in the industry who have a duty to put such a system in place if cereal growers are to be able to plan and stay committed to the industry. The farming organisations, millers, feed compounders, co-ops and grain traders have a role to play and for our sake don't be waiting for the harvest to start discussions.
   At least if we had a guaranteed minimum price, it would allow decisions to be made before money was lost. If it seemed too low for some to leave a margin, then a decision not to grow could be taken. If leaving a middling margin, inputs could be tailored accordingly, and if leaving a good margin then increasing scale or output could be justified. But it is surely better to know this before committing to growing the crop rather than when finalising the merchant credit bill in November. If we just look at the last two years, in 2002 the price received in Euro was the same as that received in punts in 2001. In any mans language that's a twenty one percent drop in price.
   I believe that if we had a minimum price, that we just may get more Irish livestock farmers to purchase a greater quantity of home grown cereals where they had knowledge of where grain prices would lay in the coming harvest. Most livestock farmers have the ability to store forty to fifty tonnes of grain and if we can get the livestock farmer to commit to more Irish grain, by being able to forward buy at a guideline price, we may be able to displace some of the imported feed ingredients. This can only benefit the Irish farmer, rather that the farmer in Ohio or the West Coast of America who are benefiting from our import of their feed ingredients.
   Clearly there is a lack of co-ordination and co-operation within the many strands of the tillage industry, and I would like to see Teagasc as having a central and independent role in any co-ordination body that will hopefully be established sooner rather than later.
   
   
4. Finally there is the whole area of costs of production. No longer will any nation or community attain its goal through bullying or intimidation. The way forward is through dialogue. We have to be prepared to compromise, for the want of a better word, and some may ask how much more can farmers compromise. We have been through crises before and have come through, and I feel we are at the bottom of the current down turn. Land availability at the right cost will be a key factor in the upward turn of events.

THE FUTURE

Trying to look forward to where we are going, there is no doubt but that the tillage industry is going to undergo change. Invariably we will end up with a smaller number of growers producing the same amount of grain as long as the National Base Area remains, since this is the only means of expansion. In Dublin 292 growers claimed arable aid in 2002 having an average claim of 51 hectares. This is in contrast to Carlow with 705 applicants having an average claim of 25 hectares.

CONCLUSION

Greater co-operation, commitment, understanding and transparency by all stakeholders in the tillage industry are necessary for the survival of Irish tillage farming as we move through the twenty- second century.