Fruit and Vegetable chair Niall McCormack from the Irish Farmers' Association has called on Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to support the horticulture sector with EU farm crisis funds received by the government earlier this year. According to McCormack, urgent support is needed to prevent a further loss of growers from the fruit and vegetable sector, with horticulture growers particularly affected by a year of poor weather and high input costs.
McCormack's calls come just one week after IFA national grain chair Kieran McEvoy stated that the funding must go to tillage farmers. "There is no doubt that exceptional aid is necessary for some sectors in 2023. Anyone involved in the production of horticulture or tillage crops has been particularly affected," McCormack continued. "Without support, we are going to see a further loss of horticulture growers." The €9.5m allocation Ireland received from the European Commission came with the possibility of a 20096 top-up at national level, which the horticulture chair said must come from Government in the upcoming budget.
Source: farmersjournal.ie