Farmer Focus: Prospects for year ahead do not look pretty

From a work point of view, 2025 has been a successful season, with all the major field work now complete.

We finished our potato harvesting in the second half of October and all the winter sowing has been done in good conditions.

See also: How a farmer is planning weed control without flufenacet

About the author

Peadar Whyte

Peadar Whyte farms 1,600ha of arable land across County Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Louth in north-east Ireland, as part of a multi-generational family farm, Whyte Brothers. The farm was established by Peader’s grandfather, Peter Whyte, and later expanded in partnership with Peter’s seven sons – including Peadar’s father, Eddie – and seven of their sons (Peadar’s cousins). Peadar grows wheat, barley, oats, oilseed rape, beans, potatoes and a variety of forage and cover crops. The wider farm operation also finishes 500 beef cattle annually.

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We planted our usual complement of wheat and barley, but did move some oats acres to oilseed rape, as there is an oversupply of oats and rapeseed prices are the only thing holding up.

It’s just as well to get the field work done, as the last few weeks have been very wet.

It has been incredibly mild, too. Weather data until mid-November shows higher average temperatures than this May, and we have not had a single night of frost.

What is the point in working hard and taking all the risk just to hand over most of the profit to a landowner?

This is something to consider as aphids could be a real problem in crops, with no opportunity for spraying as fields are extremely wet.

Potato crops yielded well and quality is good for the most part.

When crops have high yield and good harvest conditions, it usually does not bode well for markets. However, our particular market is quality pre-packed potatoes and I am happy that the majority are fit for purpose and should all be saleable.

Now is a good time to look forward to the year ahead – and it does not look pretty.

The cost of land, cost of fertiliser, and grain prices are all completely wrong.

Land rent has become unsustainable here, with dairy and solar leaving arable farming behind.

What is the point in working hard and taking all the risk just to hand over most of the profit to a landowner?

Fertiliser prices are heading for a 25% increase on last year.

This does not even take into account that out-of-touch politicians have proposed a carbon tax on top of that.

Meanwhile, grain prices are on the floor with no sign of a U-turn.

It might be more appropriate for the clever people in the EU to impose a carbon tax on imported feed that is produced in a carbon-intensive and environmentally destructive manner.

Unfortunately, these are all factors outside our control and our focus can only be on growing the best crops possible while keeping costs down.

It’s been a good start with crops doing very well so far, which is a positive.

We are farming with the hope that grain markets will improve. However, it may be a good time to diversify the farm income.