The preliminary results from the National Farm Survey shows Family Farm Income (FFI) to have increased by 6% in 2015. This is a welcome development, but one that should be considered in the context that the average FFI across all farms was just €26,526. The low level of income shows why even the slightest increase in production costs, reduction in farm output prices and/or supports quickly puts severe pressure on farm families.

This has never been more evident than at present as farmers struggle to cope with a prolonged downturn across all our main commodities. Here in the Irish Farmers Journal we are in contact daily with farmers, or members of their families that are struggling to cope with the financial strain. Our letters page this week gives some sense of the level of frustration and anguish among farmers.

The severity and duration of the downturn requires immediate action from all those whose income/business is dependent on farmers planting crops, lambing the ewes and/or calving the cows. To ensure the response is coordinated and effective, it should be led by Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed in the form of an emergency forum. We need an urgent acknowledgement that Government understands that hard-working farm families are a priority and need help.

To avoid such a forum becoming a talking shop, there should be only one item on the agenda – for each industry stakeholder to present to the Minister a range of measures they can implement to help ease the pressure on farmers.

Attention should focus on the role of banks in how they deal with farmers needing to restructure loans and the rate of interest being charged on these loans. The same applies to co-ops and private merchants with regard to credit. Those profiteering from the current situation through inflated interest rates should be held accountable. This is a time when the co-op ethos should be shining through for farmers.

Minister Creed also has a role in ensuring the Government moves to protect the industry that underpinned the economy during the economic crisis. It was positive to see the minister backing calls from the IFA for a suspension of superlevy deductions. It would be a political own goal to put more pressure on dairy farmers by dipping into the May milk cheque.

Innovation needs to be shown to ensure we fully exploit the benefit to farmers of the increased flexibility around state aid rules. With the possibility to provide temporary finance up to a maximum of €15,000, a balance needs to be struck between supporting viable business through a difficult period and plunging some further into debt. Striking this balance while at the same time delivering a range of supports that are easily accessible and do not carry an added cost burden will not be an easy task. Meanwhile, for the pig and tillage sectors, the merit in providing financial support to allow for pig fattening units to be moved closer to tillage land should be explored along with the potential to promote increased utilisation of Irish grains in rations. When discussing farm incomes, we cannot ignore the broader issue of taxation. Income averaging means that tax bills threaten to take the entire income from many farms this year – it is clearly not a solution on its own. Nevertheless, the political focus this week has been on the abolition of water charges with little recognition that the burden of costs will once again fall on the squeezed middle. In this vein, the Government’s pre-election commitment to abolish the Universal Social Charge (USC) seems further away than ever; leaving low-income farmers who have paid water charges for years with a USC charge of €1,000-€1,500 on a net income of just €26,500.

Meanwhile, farmers also have a responsibility to themselves and their families not to carry the burden alone. On page 13 Odile Evens looks at one group of farmers that are rallying together to help each other.

Time for national farm survey data to evolve

Since its introduction in 1972 the National Farm Survey has provided a comprehensive breakdown of Family Farm Incomes (FFI) across sectors. The data not only fulfils Ireland’s statutory obligations, but over the years has helped shape national policy on agricultural issues. However, it needs to continue to evolve to ensure all the information harvested is utilised to its potential and presented in a fashion that accurately reflects the more specialised nature of Irish farming. The value in comparing FFI across sectors is questionable without identifying the scale and labour input required across the systems.