This article is from page 6 of the 2014-03-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
FULL-TIME farming in Clare could soon be a thing of the past with unstable commodity prices, crippling debt an aging farming population driving farmers from the land.
The average prices of farm land in Clare fell almost 24 per cent last year, as the county’s farmers reeled from the effects of the fodder crisis. The average price of land in Clare fell from € 8,500 per acre in 2012, to just under € 6, 500 last year – a drop of 23.5 per cent – compared to national average price drop, which was less than 6 per cent.
More and more Clare land, especially poorer land, is now being planted for forestry as uncertainty about the future of milk prices ahead of the end of milk quotas in 2015 and continued uncertainly about crucial such as the Single Farm Payment, is prompting farmers to call it day.
Last year’s fodder crisis also created a large amount of debt amongst Clare farmers, who could yet face a second fodder crisis this year if the weather does not improve soon.
“The uncertainty that is out there at the moment is the biggest problem. We are after an expensive year last year because of the fodder crisis; people are in debt, are are still trying to recover,” said Clare chairperson for the ICMSA, Martin McMahon.
“There is massive uncertainty about the Single Farm Payment (SFP); everyone is wondering how much is going to be cut. The price of cattle on the floor, it’s as low as it has been in 30 year compared to costs.
“The only think going well at the moment is milk and no-one knows what is going to happen when quotas going on in 2015. We have a lot of Clare farmers who are shoving on in age and there is no generation coming through to replace them because of the uncertainty that is there at the moment.
“Then climate change is also taking it’s toll. We had no spring last year and things are no much better in 2014.
“Fodder is starting to get low again and unless things straighten out early in April we will be in big trouble. You will see farmers broke in Clare if we see another fodder crisis this year.”
New figures released by the Irish Farmer’s Journal also show there was also a marked increase in the amount of Clare land being offered for sale in 2013, with more than 30 per cent more land sold last year compared to 2012.