IFA President Joe Healy has said that Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed’s comments that it is every farmer’s individual responsibility to resolve their fodder difficulties indicates a Minister who is in denial of the serious situation that now exists on farms across the country.

Mr Healy insists that the fodder crisis, which has been evident in the north-west for months, has now spread to many other parts of the country where grass growth has come to a standstill and fodder supplies are depleted. 

He says, “the response to date of a fodder transport subsidy has not worked. Very few farmers have applied, given the complex bureaucracy attached to the scheme. Fodder supplies had been available in the southern half of the country but these are now gone, and the only option for the Minister at this point is a meal voucher scheme to support farmers to feed their stock”.