Farming
Week of the storms from hell
Farmers and householders in large swathes of South and East Galway are this week praying that the rains will ease off as floodwaters came close over the past few days to the disastrous November levels of 2009.
Thousands of acres of farmland are underwater in the Shannon Callows area while in the South Galway area of Ardrahan, Ballinderreen and Kilcolgan, up to 10 local roads are impassable.
Farm leaders have again hit out at Government and political representatives for what they describe as ‘a string of broken promises’ in relation to the putting in place of essential flood relief measures.
According to IFA National Flood Project Chairman and Shannon Callows farmer, Michael Silke, waters on the Shannon rose by six feet above the navigation level over the second half of December and through the early days of January.
“We are really just in the lap of the Gods at present. If the rains don’t ease off, we will be looking at a situation just as bad as what happened after the floods in November 2009.
“The people who live along the Shannon Callows are bitterly disappointed at the lack of active measures taken by the present Government in relation to this situation.
“They came into power on a series of promises to resolve once and for all the flooding problems of this area but they have just sat idly by, while people in this area go through another period of terrible hardship,” said Michael Silke.
He described the drainage policy across the Shannon area as ‘a complete mess’, pointing out that the lead agency involved in the flood relief measures – the OPW (Office of Public Works) – just didn’t have the legal clout to put any serious action plan in place.
“There are so many bodies with an input into this issue like the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Fisheries, the ESB and Inland Waterways, that no action ends up being taken.
“We as local farmers and householders are happy to see the OPW as the lead agency in this whole flood problem that has gone on for generations, but they must be given the legal clout to implement their plans,” said Michael Silke.
He added that report after report was piling up on the flooding problem without any basic remedial measures being put in place like the proper maintenance and cleaning of the main river channel.
“When we seek to put measures in place to relieve this problem we normally hear of two things – cost benefit analysis and the environment. The one thing that’s never factored in, is the level of human hardship being endured by the families living here,” said Michael Silke.
Unless the rains eased up, sheds, fodder stocks and in cases houses would be coming under threat, according to Michael Silke.
Mattie Hallinan, from Ballinderreen – a member of the Galway Flood Project Team – described the situation in South Galway this as very serious with up to 10 roads blocked while around 10 houses were coming under pressure due to rising water levels.
“The really frustrating aspect of this problem is that there are straightforward solutions that can be put in place in a very cost effective manner.
“For example, the widening and clearing of the Ballinderreen-Kiltiernan water channel to the sea would provide instant relief for flooding in this area – the water needs to get to the sea and this work must start from the sea back,” said Mattie Hallinan.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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MINISTER for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue, has been asked to review a decision taken over recent weeks to exclude the sheep farming sector from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR).
East Galway Independent TD, Seán Canney, has called on the Agriculture Minister and Government to ‘revisit’ the issue of sheep farmers and the BAR fund.
Galway IFA Chair, Stephen Canavan, also said that a mistake had been made in terms of excluding the sheep sector from the BAR funding.
“I think that there is no doubt whatsoever that Brexit had a major impact in terms of New Zealand lamb exports flooding the UK market.
“The knock-on affect of that on Irish sheep farmers was a serious fall-back on lamb and hogget prices through the early months of this year.
“There are now serious concerns that the farmers who buy in store lambs through the early autumn period will just pull out of this market after getting such a scalding over the past six months or so,” said Stephen Canavan.
According to Deputy Seán Canney, all of the Regional Group of TDs are backing the move to get the Government to have another look at the use of the BAR fund for the sheep sector.
“The evidence that sheep farming was affected by Brexit is strong and the decision not to support people in this sector needs to be reversed immediately.
“Brexit negotiations began in June 2016 and caused turmoil in the sheep trade as it weakened the currency making UK lamb far more competitive.
“The notion or threat of ‘a no deal ‘ in Brexit caused the price of sheep to fluctuate repeatedly in the trade and resulted in lambs selling for an estimated €30-€50 lower per head each year during the entire Brexit process,” said Deputy Canney.
WITH the exception of Leitrim, Galway was marginally the cheapest county in the west and north-west to buy non-residential farmland during the course of 2022, according to the latest national survey of prices.
The survey showed that the average price of an acre of ‘good land’ in Galway last year, for holdings under 50-acres, was €9,500 – the dearest was Donegal at €12,143 while the cheapest was Leitrim at €6,140 an acre.
Jointly researched by Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCCI) and Teagasc, the survey also indicated that only 0.5% of land in Ireland goes up for sale each year, a major factor in terms of demand for leased land.
‘Good land’ in Mayo [under 50-acres] averaged out at €10,092; the figure for Roscommon was €9,938; with Sligo coming in at €9,550.
When it came to a comparison of poorer quality land in Connacht [under 50-acres], Mayo was the cheapest at €2,886 followed by Leitrim on €3,300 while Galway topped ‘poor land price league’ at €5,375 per acre.
Auctioneer Martin O’Connor of DNG O’Connor, Oughterard, said that the market was being driven by dairy farmers ‘who are continually ranked throughout the survey as the most likely purchasers of land across the country’.
He said that changes in the European Nitrates Directive in relation to improving water quality meant that many dairy farmers needed more land to comply with this directive.
“In order to maintain current levels of milk production – and to comply with the directive – many dairy farms will need to either increase their land area or reduce milk production.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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