He said thousands of livestock and dairy farmers are facing into a winter with inadequate feed and those who have managed to save enough will incur extra costs as a result of poor quality. Escalating fuel and feed costs are already pushing production in many sectors into a loss-making situation.

In addition, a major workload is backing up on farms with a significant proportion of the harvest still to be done and slurry tanks still full from last winter due to inability to travel on land. Mr Bryan said the challenge now for everyone supporting the sector is to do everything possible to ensure that farm families can get through the months ahead.

He said the Government, banks, processors, merchants, Teagasc will have to put their shoulders to the wheel to rebuild confidence among primary producers. Mr Bryan committed the full resources of the Association through its 945 branches and 4,000 voluntary officers towards helping farm families who, inevitably, will find it difficult to cope over the coming months.

As part of the Association’s plans, the IFA has established a national Project Team headed up by the Deputy President Eddie Downey and the regional Vice-Presidents Jer Bergin, Padraic Divilly, Chris Hayes and John Waters. Project teams in every county executive region will be established to identify the problems and assist in finding solutions.