It’s blowback!
This afternoon.
Further to the release last week of figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showing the price of fertiliser increased by 127% in the past year.
Social Democrats Agriculture Spokesperson Holly Cairns said:
“I met with local representatives of the Irish Farmers’ Association and the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association this week to discuss the current challenges facing farmers and food producers, including the shortage of fertiliser.
“Since autumn, fertiliser prices have skyrocketed. Some farmers have only been able to buy a portion of what is needed for the year – while others have not been able to purchase any at all. This situation is made even worse with a shortage of supply which affects farmer’s capacity to grow sillage. The Minister for Agriculture must put in place a process to secure emergency access to fertiliser to prevent a crisis this winter.”
In 2020, nearly 266,000 tonnes of fertiliser compound was imported from Russia, close on 40% of Ireland’s total compound imports.
Deputy Cairns added:
“The Ukrainian conflict has again shown our dependence on global food chains. From potential shortages in wheat and sunflower oil, to the scarcity of fertiliser, we need a new approach to food security. The Department of Agriculture failed to learn the lessons from the pandemic. This crisis must be a wakeup call. We need policies that will ensure our food sovereignty.”
No poo, Sherlock.
Previously: Official figures confirm the soaring price of fertiliser
Shutterstock
if we all had vegetarian diets and ate a minimum of processed foods, we could compost our own poo.
so there, now.
Rabbit poo comes out ready to be used as fertiliser, no composting period needed.
Reality is if we hadnt shut down industries like sugar beets & sugar production, among others, and been so gung ho to outsource most of our food & farming inputs, we wouldnt be in this mess.
Globalisation leaves you at the mercy of other nations for trade, a war here, drought there, or even just a change of government can leave you totally screwed. But hey, the cheap grain and TVs!
In 2001 Ireland was one of the top ten fertilising producing nations on the planet
Now in 2022 we seem to of replaced the fertilising industry with the manure produced in the dail
The whole department of agriculture needs a massive kick up it’s Jacksie
We are now seeing the damage the greens have done to our country since coming to power
We now are dependent on fertiliser from Russia peat from the ex soviet states Germany and Holland as our whole industry was shut down and peat farmers were made criminal for digging it up
We see a whole wind farm closed down this month by planning and are totally screwed as we have little food security while being a agriculture nation
Our rich grounds of fish pillaged by our EU partners as our fishermen are forced from fishing
Our gas fields reduced because gas is a bad thing but dependency on Russian gas and oil enriches the Russians as the EU keeps buying it and a raving moron who should get on his bike and turn into a heat pump
It’s wakey wakey time because we cannot eat computer chips which is the plan for the future of high tech service industry Ireland
…will nobody think of those poor Russians with no Big Macs or Coca Cola…or Pepsi…