Story: Inishowen Independent
INISHOWEN IFA chairman George O’Hagan has warned
that local farmers face a catastrophic harvest
unless the weather breaks very soon.
“It has been an exceptionally wet summer and farmers
are experiencing a lot of pain at the moment,” Mr
O’Hagan said. “Every sector is affected and it’s
very depressing because there’s not a thing we can
do about the weather.”
Many farmers have borrowed substantial sums to
finance their operations, and unless yields are good
they could find themselves in financial difficulty
for years to come – or out of business altogether.
“Livestock farmers find themselves in an awful
quandary,” Mr O’Hagan said. “The ground is so soft
that cattle can’t stand on it without damaging the
grass. Farmers have to either cut their losses and
sell their livestock before they’re ready, or house
them which is prohibitively expensive at this time
of year.”
The outlook is equally bleak for potato farmers.
“This is dangerous weather for blight but farmers
can’t get into their wet field to spray the crop.
Potato farmers invest up to €1,000 per acre and no
business could afford to sustain such losses.”
Feedstuffs for livestock will also be severely
affected. Most farmers have been unable to get their
‘second cut’ of silage, while grain crops across the
country have been battered by rain and wind.
“The grain crop looked so good earlier in the summer
and we were hoping for a bumper harvest to drive
down grain prices that have been at historically
high levels,” Mr O’Hagan concluded. “But unless
there’s a big change soon, farmers will face massive
feed costs this winter.” |
