Farm-to-farm Trade Boosts Incomes for Livestock and Grain Farmers – Bryan
IFA President John Bryan said the harvest presents a golden opportunity for livestock and grain farmers to boost their incomes by trading grain direct farm-to-farm.
John Bryan said, “Livestock farmers can take out many of the unnecessary costs such as double and treble transport charges, manufacturing and retail margins associated with compound feed by sourcing cereal feed direct from grain growers. This route is the most efficient route to market for grain and livestock farmers providing much needed competition and additional margin at a critical time of the year when the trade attempts to talk down prices”.
The IFA President said “Grain off the combine represents the best value feed that money can buy as cereals are the most versatile feed available. There are a wide range of proven processing / preserving options available to suit most farm situations. Cereals are the highest energy feed ingredient and represent real value for money. Their performance is unquestionable, both in terms of increased milk proteins and carcase gain in beef animals”.
John Bryan said trading farm-to–farm offers opportunity to both grower and feeder in terms of increased margin and considerably reduced costs.
The ongoing promotion of farm-to-farm trade for cereals by IFA in recent years has seen a significant increase in volume traded this route.
The IFA President said, “Invariably once the harvest is complete merchants will close the store doors and the price of grain and feed will rise. Compound feed rations are over-priced when compared to the cost of the feed constituent ingredients”.
