Some state aid is to be provided for potato and other vegetable growers in the Irish Republic who were hard hit by the recent big freeze.
But the limited nature of the relief package announced by agriculture minister Brendan Smith means they will not be fully compensated for their losses, estimated by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) at between €15 million (£13.09m) and €20m. It also claims that some 6,000 acres of crops remain unharvested and are likely to be written off.
According to the minister, the relief scheme, in accordance with EU rules on state aid, will be confined to those who have lost more than 30 per cent of their total crop. They will be required to show that “the damage claimed was caused by frost, as well as the extent of their losses”.
Department of agriculture staff will inspect each farm where damage is claimed and assess the impact of the losses on the grower’s overall business. The government department declined to put an overall figure on the amount of compensation that would be available, claiming that would depend on the number of growers who could prove substantial losses.
Announcing the support package, the minister said: “I am happy to proceed with a limited scheme aimed at making a contribution to individual growers who, despite good crop management practices, have incurred substantial losses relative to the scale of their farming enterprises.” Claim forms are being made available by the department and the growers have until 16 February to detail their losses and apply for compensation.
The IFA, which has been lobbying the minister to provide emergency aid for the sector, welcomed the proposed scheme, although its president, John Bryan, said that more details are required on how it will operate. “Growers have suffered very substantial losses,” he added, “and will need worthwhile aid to help get them back on their feet.”
It was Ireland’s coldest January for half a century and the impact on potato and vegetable crops was “devastating”, according to Andy Whelton, a horticulture advisor with Teagasc, the farm research and advisory service. The crops worst affected, he said, were potatoes, cabbage, winter cauliflower and carrots, while ornamental nursery stock was also damaged.
One grower, TJ Sheehan, of Castletownroche, County Cork, a specialist producer of winter storage cabbage, had 24 acres of crops wiped out.
“It’s the first time in 20 years that I couldn’t harvest the crops,” he said, adding that he has had to lay off some of his staff because he now has no work for them.
