Fears have been raised over progress being made in ongoing talks between knackery representatives and Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine officials – with a very real possibility that no new support scheme will be in place for the start of January.
Such an outcome could see a reduction of services – or a doubling of charges for animal collection and disposal, representatives warned.
In a statement to AgriLand, the Animal Collectors Association (ACA), which represents knackeries around the country, said:
“The ACA is still in negotiations with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
Crunch meetings are to take place this week, which will determine what changes will have to be made to knackery operations in the new year.
“We feel that progress is slow and at present the proposed scheme is falling short of the commitment that was made by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in September to get knackery operators to resume operations after their full cessation of services for over a week,” the representatives added.
“We fear that a new scheme may not be agreed for January 1, 2020.
“In the absence of an agreed scheme we will have no choice but to reduce our services or double our charges to farmers nationwide,” the ACA concluded.