There’s no getting away from the fact that times are decidedly tough for tillage farmers at present. While it almost feels like the stars are aligned against hard-pressed growers, Brophy Agri Services continue to do their best to secure them the best-possible price for their produce.
As dairy and beef continue to perform well, tillage farmers are having to dig in. A combination of high costs and low grain prices globally is wreaking havoc with their bottom line. It’s not all doom and gloom, however, as these things are generally cyclical and there’s always hope of better times ahead.
Although by no means immune to the downturn themselves, companies like Tullow, County Carlow based grain merchants Brophy Agri Services are doing as much as they possibly can to help growers weather the storm.
Brophy Agri Services have been providing invaluable support to the farming community in County Carlow for more than four decades and, with this long-established grain trading business built on strong relationships and a genuine sense of community, general manager David Warren remains fully committed to providing as much backing as possible to local tillage men.
“At the end of the day, we’re all in it together,” he stresses. “We are still here to support the local growers who are working with us, and you always hope for better years and better times ahead. The ground is dry and conditions are good as we speak. If we get more winter corn in this year, and next spring might be drier, things can start to turn around quickly.
“The weather has not been kind to growers but it is cyclical and one good harvest can cover two or three bad ones. We could do with a good harvest or two now. But no industry is bulletproof. We’ll keep going and I’m sure the farmers will keep going. We’ll help them along as best we can.”
When David succeeded Greg Brophy – nephew of founder Stan Brophy – and became general manager at Brophy Agri Services during the summer of 2023, he acknowledged immediately in a chat with this very magazine that conditions were volatile and that major challenges lay ahead. Reflecting on his first 12-18 months at the helm, which coincided with a perfect storm of unfavourable weather, expensive inputs, low yields, low prices and unequal competition from dairy and beef farmers for conacre, he comments:
“Those challenges all played out as predicted. You had a wet autumn and a late spring and the weather really compounded it. Inputs are still very high considering harvest price and it’s very difficult for them to maintain any margin. Add in the fact that tillage farmers are competing for conacre with others who are in a better position and it’s fair to say that the market in Ireland for tillage is as tough as it’s been in a long, long time.
“The winter barley and winter wheat that went in last autumn [2023] ended up getting a poor yield and the price of grain isn’t helping matters. While inputs are down from a historical high, they are still very high – unsustainably so.”
In a typical year, Brophy Agri Services sell up to 35,000 tonnes of barley, wheat, oats, oil seed rape and pulses, the vast majority of this going to commodity traders who in turn supply animal feed merchants and piggeries. They also supply mills and get back a range of feed (dairy, beef, horse) from these, manufactured to the specification of local farmers.
Now 45 years in business, Brophy Agri Services – proud to be a local business supporting the local community – are immersed in the tillage sector and do everything in their power to support local tillage farmers in planning and producing their produce and getting it to market.
With a strong history of delivering on behalf of local farmers in terms of getting them both a market and a fair price for their produce, Brophy Agri Services also assist with grain production. They have their own agronomist and are also experts in soil nutrition and supply local farmers with a full range of fertilisers.
Speaking of which, David points out that the new Fertiliser Register, which requires quite a bit of paperwork and is anything but straightforward, presents tillage farmers with even more headaches at a time when they least need them. Seems it doesn’t rain but it pours!
“The real concern is that the way things are, they aren’t going to be left with any margin. Chemicals are still high and fertilisers are high. These are tough times for growers and for us as well because we are trying to give them support with the best price.
“The Russians have been flooding the market with grain and that’s keeping the price down globally, which doesn’t help.
“Realistically, you’d have to be concerned about the long-term prospects for tillage farming in Ireland unless there’s a dramatic change of fortunes or a game-changing strategy announced in geopolitical policy. There were supports announced in the budget, but are they enough in the long term?
“A lot of farmers have got into dairy because it is profitable and milk is paying. There’s a lot of generational renewal here but I don’t know how keen they are for tillage; they are probably more likely to go for dairy if they are to take over the family farm.
“There are big challenges there and big questions but Brophy Agri Services have seen tough times and volatile markets before. We’re heading towards 45 years in business and this certainly isn’t the first bad time we’ve seen. We’re all going to pull together and hopefully we can weather the storm.”
Brophy Agri Services Ltd.,
Carlow Road,
Castlemore,
Tullow,
County Carlow.
Tel: 059 9151242
Email: [email protected]
First published in Irish Tractor & Agri magazine Vol 12 No 4, November/December 2024
Brophy Agri Services Ltd., Featured
