A €2m southern Irish government scheme to help its farmers to import fodder from the UK and other EU countries is distorting the market for Welsh farmers also in desperate need of fodder, the Farmers' Union of Wales claimed today.
The imported fodder transport scheme has been established due to the severe shortages in the republic caused by severe weather over the past 12 months.
But the problems facing Welsh farmers are no different and are, in fact, being exacerbated by the Irish scheme, says the union.
“Farmers throughout Wales are still struggling due to the impact of the weather over the past year, particularly since mid-March, and fodder continues to be a real problem on every type of farm here," said FUW hill farming and marginal land committee chairman Derek Morgan, of Llangurig, Powys.
“The FUW wrote to the Welsh Government in December warning of these shortages and their impact and calling for some kind of fodder scheme to be introduced.
“It now seems that the Irish have taken the initiative to help their farmers, but the scheme is specifically targeted at subsidising imports of fodder from the UK and other EU regions, excluding Northern Ireland.
“With fodder already in short supply, the removal of fodder from the UK market through the Irish subsidisation of haulage costs is of course distorting the market - it is basic supply and demand economics.
“We have every sympathy with Irish farmers facing the same problems as we are, but it cannot be right if the help their government is providing is making matters worse for our farmers.”
Mr Morgan said that the FUW had already made representations to the Welsh Government regarding the scheme and would seek to stop any measures which merely add to the dire problems faced by Welsh farmers.
Eire agriculture and food minister Simon Coveney last week announced he was extending the deadline for applications for funding under the imported fodder transport scheme to May 24 and doubling the fund to €2m.
The scheme was introduced to reduce the cost to farmers of imported forage from outside the island of Ireland. It is operating through the dairy co-operatives (milk purchasers) and covers forage imported by the co-ops from between April 15 and May 24.
It is claimed that the scheme is subject to EU State Aid rules, will substantially cover the cost of transport into the country and reduce the cost to farmers of a bale of hay by approximately one third.
