IFA National Grain Committee Chairman Noel Delany has said that no farmer should take out spring cereal seed unless he can secure agreement on a minimum floor price for this year’s harvest or they have a higher value market for their grain, such as farm-to-farm trade.

 

Mr. Delaney said, “Even at a minimum guaranteed price of €100/t for green barley and €103 to €106 for green wheat, which some merchants are offering, the majority of growers will end up loosing money unless they achieve exceptional yields or production / input costs drop dramatically. Prospects of large carryover world and EU grain stocks into the 2010 harvest are undermining new crop prices. Current indications are that Irish spring barley sowings could be back by anywhere up to 40%. This will not be sufficient to lift prices as there is little prospect of any sizeable reduction in world or EU grain production putting new crop grain prices under increasing pressure as we move closer to harvest.”

 

He said, “Growers should take a serious look at alternative crops such as oil seed rape, peas, beans, contract maize etc where minimum or fixed price contracts are on offer. Alternatively they should look to develop farm-to-farm trade opportunities. No grower can sustain the level of losses incurred after last year’s harvest.”

 

“Europe needs to radically rethink its agricultural policies. The European model of family farming cannot sustain the boom / bust cycles created by the unregulated inflow and outflow of investor money into food commodities such as grain. The reintroduction of supply management tools coupled with market supports is critical if Europe is serious about long-term food security. Europe’s stringent regulations are imposing a significant cost burden on its farmers while at the same time conferring a significant cost advantage to our competitors. It is time to level the playing field and ban any grain imports into Europe that do not meet strict EU production, plant health and environment standards.’