Rainy Weather Going Against The Grain

The consistently wet and rainy conditions are causing farmers serious concern over this year's grain crop.

The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) has said grain farmers could lose their entire harvest as the coming week is critical for this year's main harvest of 250,000 hectares of winter wheat and spring barley.

IFA National Grain Chairman Colum McDonnell said: "Normally, the winter crops of barley, oats and oilseed rape would have been harvested by now.

"But the recent heavy rainfall and the deteriorating ground conditions have stalled the harvest, and in some areas, it has turned to a salvage situation.

"Thundery downpours have led to flash flooding in parts of the country and this has wiped out some crops," he said.

Mr McDonnell said harvesting of the main crop of two million tonnes of grain generally begins in mid-August, but the extreme wet weather has held it back.

"Even if the weather does improve, the soil is near saturation and traffic from heavy machinery will lead to serious damage, which will have a knock-on effect for next year’s crop," he said.

The IFA Grain Chairman said the declining prospects for harvest, combined with significant increases in input costs and falling prices, will have a severe impact on growers' profitability this year and will lead to a re-assessment of plans for next year.

(DW)