IFA & Farm Contractors to Meet Tanaiste on Agri Fuels Crisis

IFA will meet the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris and the Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon this evening with the Farm and Forestry Contractors in Ireland (FCI) to discuss the crisis caused by the spike in agri diesel in recent weeks. 

“We want the Government to review the decision of last week and properly address fuel costs for farmers and agri contractors.  The excise duty reductions announced did very little to lower the cost, with a temporary five cent reduction for the sector.”

“This is simply nowhere near enough to address the issue for the farming sector as agri-diesel has increased by over 50% in recent weeks. The five cent reduction amounts to a 3% price reduction,” he said. 

Without Government action, the increased cost of agri diesel will drive up costs on farmers and agri contractors significantly. There is no room with current margins to absorb these additional costs.

“The inevitable result of this current fuel shock will be economic inflation, and food is massively exposed to the cost of fuel and energy. Consumers need to be aware that carbon tax is contributing to higher food costs,” he said. 

“Carbon tax currently adds 17cpl to agri diesel and is due to up by a further two cent again next month. As agricultural machinery has no alternative to using diesel, the tax cannot achieve its stated objective of encouraging the use of alternative energy,” he said.