More farm advisors and consultants must be recruited before the summer to help deal with the workload involved in the Agri-Climate Rural Environmental Scheme (ACRES), particularly in co-operation zones.
That’s according to president of the Agricultural Consultants’ Association (ACA) Noel Feeney, who said there will be a particular need for staff in areas where co-operation zones are widespread.
Speaking to Agriland at the ACA annual general meeting (AGM) in Co. Laois last week (Thursday, March 23), he said:
“The recruitment drive is ongoing because in co-operation zones, there is an awful lot of scoring to do there in the summer months between the end of June and August.
“There’s a huge number of hectares there that have to be covered. So, advisors in those areas will be looking for people.
“They’re looking at hiring graduates that are coming out of the colleges and we’re also urging the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) to provide ACRES training for them as soon as possible, so they can get out and get that work done.”
Feeney added that it can be difficult to get staff, however he added that the association had a stand at the recent University College Dublin (UCD) careers day where there was “great interest in the sector”.
“Graduates are becoming more aware of the private advisory services now and what they have to offer.
“It’s a fantastic career, you can live at home, you’re dealing with people in your own community and I just think it’s a great opportunity for young people that are doing agricultural-related level eight courses at the moment,” he said.
The ACA leader said that Ireland has set its sectoral emissions targets now and that advisors play a big role in working towards these, by encouraging the uptake of environmental schemes.
“There’s huge pressure on all of us but I’m very proud of my members. There were 46,000 applications to the ACRES scheme and we processed three quarters of those.
“Also, there were 2,000 more applications to this Organic Farming Scheme (OFS) and again, we did three quarters of those,” stated Feeney.
He said that there will be a lot of work to do ahead of the summer in relation to ACRES in particular, as farmers prepare to be scored during July and August, but added that he’s confident ACA members can handle the load.
“There’s no rest for the advisors but it’s a good complaint.
“We’re working with communities in rural Ireland, we’re employing new graduates and overall, farm advisory services are just a fantastic area of work to be in at the moment,” he concluded.