Tirlán has announced an advance tillage payment worth approximately €3,500 to its average grain supplier.

The advance payment is €15/t for grain growers.

Tirlán is also offering an extended period of interest-free credit on fertiliser for crops.

A €30/head advance payment for beef cattle in Twenty20 Beef Club was also announced this Tuesday as part of the suite of support measures.

Tillage advance payment

The optional €15/t advance payment is available to all grain suppliers based on grain volumes supplied in 2023.

This payment will be interest-free and will be offset by a deduction against actual grain payments due by Tirlán to the supplier for grain supplied at harvest 2024.

It will be made to the trading accounts of participating grain suppliers and will offer approximately €3,500 in interest-free cashflow support to an average grain supplier.

Fertiliser

The interest-free credit fertiliser for crops comes in the form of an extension to the fertiliser credit scheme.

It will be extended to the end of August - this normally ends in March.

Twenty20 Beef Club

The €30/head advance payment for beef cattle in the Twenty20 Beef Club is also optional for members who are contracted to supply beef animals through this scheme before the end of September.

In a statement, the co-op said the support package amounts to €4m.

This comes following the announcement of a support package for Tirlán milk suppliers who are also experiencing ongoing challenges due to the current wet weather.

Collaboration

The co-op said it will also facilitate agreements between tillage and livestock farmers, whereby tillage farmers will grow fodder crops for livestock farmers.

A statement from the co-op said: “In these farmer-to-farmer arrangements, livestock farmers can be charged for 50% of the seed, fertiliser, agro-chemicals and other inputs required by tillage farmers to grow fodder crops such as maize, beet and other forage crops.

“These arrangements should utilise the well-established contract forage cropping agreement developed by Teagasc,” it said.

‘Significant challenges’

Tirlán chair John Murphy said that the co-op is acutely aware of the significant challenges its tillage farmers are experiencing.

“There was very little opportunity to sow crops after last harvest, which significantly reduced autumn plantings.

“This is now being compounded by the wet spring, with most farmers having little or no spring crops sown due to very poor ground conditions.

“Growers now face a race against time to get crops in the ground if soil improves,” he said.