Farmers Encouraged to Shop Around for Key Inputs

IFA Farm Business chair Bill O Keeffe has encouraged all farmers to shop around for best rates on key inputs.  His comments come after the IFA Farm Business Committee undertook a survey of prices available nationwide in the last week.

“We felt as a Committee we had to look at costs inputs nationwide this spring and have concentrated on a few key inputs that most farms use: fertiliser, feed and fuel,” Bill O’Keeffe said.

“For fertiliser we looked at the most popular fertilisers sold, CAN, 18s and Protected Urea. What we found is a price discrepancy of almost €70 a ton between the cheapest and the dearest nationwide. On beef and dairy rations, we observed differences of almost €40 a tonne and similar in a 1,000-litre fill of green diesel,” he said.

The IFA Farm Business Committee is encouraging all farmers to shop around for the best prices available on inputs this spring.  After a number of years of inflated input prices, margins on farm are under pressure and we cannot afford to overpay for inputs.

“All merchants and co-ops must pass back all price reductions to farmers immediately.  After a prolonged winter, farmers cannot be expected to continue paying inflated prices for inputs. We as a Committee will continue to monitor prices and update our members accordingly,” Bill O’Keeffe concluded.