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Eight months of rain causing farmers a mental health crisis – Independent Wexford candidate

Don’t suffer in silence, candidate urges fellow farmers after torrid winter/spring

Independent New Ross Municipal District candidate, Marty Murphy in one of his rain sodden fields.

David Looby
© New Ross Standard

Independent candidate for the local elections in the New Ross district, Marty Murphy, has expressed the despair the farming community is currently facing due to the adverse weather conditions of the past eight months.

Speaking from a very saturated field on his own farm in Ballyhack, Marty said: “I have never seen anything like it. It has been raining now continuously since last September.

“Farmland is totally saturated and fodder stocks are now gone on a lot of farms. Animals are still in the sheds because they cannot be put out to graze due to the saturated ground conditions, resulting in slurry tanks reaching maximum capacity. We cannot get fertilizer out to grow next years’ silage crops further adding to the growing pressure on farmers.”

He said tillage famers are in crisis, as there are zero tillage crops sown. “The delayed sowing of our very important malting barley will have a detrimental effect on its quality and will result in a loss of its premium payment.

“There are no potatoes in the ground which is also an important premium crop for Wexford. Farmers are just deflated.

“The mental health stress within the industry at the moment is profound. Farmers are despondent with many under extreme financial and mental stress.”

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Continuing Marty said farmers sustained a lot of losses last year with harvesting, in particular, where 700 acres across our county was unharvested. “That ruined crop is still in the fields because we cannot get out onto the land. Farmers have money tied up in machines sitting in sheds that cannot be taken out. Many farms are yielding no income at the moment.”

Concluding, the Wexford Independent Alliance candidate said: “The farming sector in County Wexford is really struggling. Farming families work 14/16 hours a day and for many those long hours have been bringing in very little income over the past six months.

“Government intervention and financial assistance for the farming sector in County Wexford must be a priority now. Immediate actions not words are required from Government.

“The mental health effects are very worrying also and I would urge farmers to speak to their families and each other and not to suffer in silence.”

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