Posted on August, 13, 2024 at 08:42 pm
Normally a poor harvest across the European Union (EU) would be compensated for by a strengthening of grain prices.
But this may not be the case in 2024. The prospect of a decent maize harvest in the United States (US) is hanging over all of the world’s grain markets at the present time.
The end result, up to this point at least, has been a levelling-off of cereal prices on this side of the Atlantic ocean.
However, it will be interesting to see how specialist cereal markets, including malting barley and gluten-free oats, develop as the 2024 harvest progresses.
Irish spring cereal crops still hold out the hope of good yields with equally acceptable grain quality.
The harvesting of these crops will get underway at the beginning of September, weather permitting. So, we won’t have long to wait to get a real sense of how well spring cereals have performed here in 2024.
Meanwhile, Irish grain prices remain linked, for the most part, to the world’s commodity grain markets.
Despite the demands of local cereal growers for the almost zero carbon footprint of Irish grains to be fully recognised, there is no differentiation to this effect when dairy and livestock farmers here source the compound rations they need.
All cereals, irrespective of their origin, get lumped into the one pot.
Malting barley and specialised oat crops are the exceptions to this rule of thumb. However, these grains are required for the production of premium food and drink products that command a genuine premium in the marketplace.
Irish potatoes represent another good news story within the tillage sector. Recent years have seen both consumption levels increase, with shoppers also committing to pay more for home-grown produce.
Potato growers will, no doubt, argue, that their production costs have increased immensely during this period, and this is true.
But, at least, they are now getting a realistic lift in farmgate prices to compensate for this. Unfortunately, this has not been the case for those farmers wedded to commercial cereal production.
Meanwhile, Ireland remains committed to securing an almost 25% increase in its tillage area by 2030. Driving this agenda is the recognition that cereal production in this country comes with an almost zero carbon footprint.
But no farmer is going to plough up grass without having the financial incentive to do so in the first place.
Making this happen will require Irish cereal production being placed on a fundamentally sound financial footing.
Source: Agriland