The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) is currently working on a system to deliver a scheme for the so-called ‘forgotten farmers’.
The group of farmers lost out following the removal of young farmer supports under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), such as installation aid, due to cuts in public expenditure by the government following the last recession.
In the Dáil yesterday (Thursday, February 22), Sinn Féin spokesperson for agriculture, Claire Kerrane sought an update on the proposal to bring forward a long-awaited solution for the farmers.
In response, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue reiterated his desire to find a resolution for the forgotten farmers.
“Those farmers are still actively farming and we want to see them continuing in that.
“We also want the fact that they missed out on those earlier opportunities to be acknowledged in some way, and I have made a commitment to do that,” he said.
Forgotten farmers
The minister said that there is “a significant challenge” at departmental level in delivering the scheme, “as a system has to be built to deliver it”.
He said that the rollout of the schemes under the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) took priority within the department last year.
“My department is now working on setting up the system we will need for this scheme and getting us into a position to be able to make the payment.
“It is one I want to see happen, as it would be meaningful to the many farmers who were not able to avail of the supports in question almost 15 years ago when they started off farming,” he said.
Deputy Kerrane said that she has been “contacted repeatedly by forgotten farmers, who are in a desperate situation and questioning whether they can continue farming”.
She pressed the minister to provide details on the outline of the new scheme.
Minister McConalogue said that based on previous analyses carried out by the department, the farmers involved commenced farming before 2008, were under 40 years of age in 2015 and held low-value entitlements under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS).
“A 2019 assessment showed that 3,900 farmers fulfilled the criteria, with the cost of increasing the value of entitlements estimated to be €12 million.
“Obviously, we are conducting a separate assessment now because we have seen convergence, which has averaged out payments significantly, happen in the meantime,” he said.
Minister McConalogue said that he has “the team prioritising it this year so that the scheme can be progressed and delivered”.
Scheme
Deputy Kerrane said that she was aware that a general cohort of farmers was previously outlined, but she said that a detailed outline of the scheme has not yet been published.
“There is no point in building a system for payments if we do not know what the scheme will look like. We need to be clear with the forgotten farmers about who will be able to join the scheme.
“I ask that the minister publish a detailed outline of the scheme before he builds anything to make payments,” she said.
McConalogue said that the system “to identify the different categories of farmers and deliver the payment will be important”.
He said that the overall funding commitment from the Department of Public Expenditure would determine the level of payment made to the farmers.
He added that he will engage with the department “on the capacity and strength of the payment”.
The minister did not provide a timeframe for the delivery of the new system or the new scheme.