Irish grain growers to meet agriculture minister over Budget 2027
The Irish Farmers' Association's National Grain Committee will meet agriculture minister Martin Heydon in the coming days to discuss the outcome of Budget 2027. The sector wants quick payment of support and a longer-term funding commitment.
The National Grain Committee of the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) is to meet Ireland's agriculture minister, Martin Heydon, in the coming days. The two sides will discuss the outcome of Budget 2027 as it affects tillage farming. The talks matter because grain growers continue to face cash flow pressure and a prolonged economic crisis.
Committee chair John Murphy said the meeting should have been held sooner, but the minister has been extremely busy because Ireland currently holds the presidency of the European Union.
Funding demands
In Budget 2027, the government again committed €30 million to a dedicated Tillage Sustainability Support Scheme. The farming organisation wants the money paid out as quickly as possible. Murphy said the measure will help tillage farmers cope with ongoing cash flow pressures.
He added that a multi-annual funding commitment of €65 million is still needed to protect the sector from the economic crisis it has faced for four seasons. Without it, he believes there is little hope of reaching the government's own target of 400,000 hectares of tillage in Ireland by 2030.
Securing a new reform deal for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is also a priority for the committee. Murphy told Agriland that achieving the best possible funding outcome is its number one objective.
Crop outlook
Although international markets and politics weigh on farmers' minds, the 2026/2027 growing year has had an excellent start. All winter cereals and oilseed rape have been planted in almost perfect conditions, growth rates since drilling have been exceptional, and the required weed control and other field work has been done on time.
The source notes that the main lesson of 2026 was that final yields, rather than prices, are the key determinant of profitability. There is hope that crops grown for 2026/2027 could yield very well next summer.
If CAP gives national governments more scope to introduce targeted national support measures, this could be good news for Irish agriculture, including greater formal recognition of tillage's ability to help meet the 2030 climate action targets.
