Irish tillage farmers should consider the feasibility of crop insurance as a future safety net option for the sector.

Every time we get a bad harvest season, they cannot sit idle and continue to work for the government.

The reality is that crop insurance works in countries like the United States, so there is no reason why a similar system couldn’t work in this part of the world.

Ireland is not the only country to experience extreme weather. Here, excessive rain is, always, an issue. In the rest of the world, drought can cause unexpected damage to growing crops.

The question then becomes the following – who pays?

crop insurance

The obvious vehicle for promoting the debate on crop insurance is the Food Vision Tillage Group. Its membership can support the theory involved, and also bring forward proposals on how best to pay for it.

Obvious contributors in this regard include the European Union and the Irish Government.

But should Irish producers also be included in the funding mix? It seems to me, on this basis, that a special scheme may be provided for Irish tillage.

The proposed measure will add to already existing support schemes through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This will begin only when specific crop failures can be identified.

Many are of the opinion that the Irish tilled area should be expanded. This principle is already enshrined in the government’s response to climate change.

This will only happen if plow farmers have the certainty that they can survive the vagaries of Irish weather.

The events of the last 24 months make this completely clear. Harvest 2022 was one of the best on record. Fast forward 12 months, and the polar opposite scenario was unfolding; Disappointing yields and extremely weak farm gate prices.

In my opinion, a crop insurance scheme would take the extremes out of the tillage equation, allowing producers the opportunity to plan for the future with some degree of certainty.

So much for the future – what about the here and now?

The €7 million tillage support scheme recently confirmed by the Agriculture Minister has been generally welcomed.

Charlie McConlogue gets a fair amount of stick from any number of agriculture stakeholder groups on an almost daily basis. So it is only right that when that extra mile is taken on behalf of Irish farmers, it should be praised.