Farming women who have formed the Women in Agriculture Stakeholders Group (WASG) held their first meeting with Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) senior officials this week (Tuesday, September 14), and said they are “cautiously optimistic” about the outcome.
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) proposals, including a partnership tax credit, female only knowledge transfer schemes and a 60% Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) grant for women, were discussed.
The discussion involved a number of the representatives from the group that included the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA), Irish Cattle and Sheep Association (ICSA) and Macra na Feirme.
WASG chair, Hannah Quinn-Mulligan said: “Considering currently fewer than 500 women under 35 years-of-age receive farm payments, there is a long way to go to secure the future recognition and inclusion of women in the sector.
“However, [the] meeting was welcome, and it was a very positive first step. The department has confirmed [it is] actively reviewing our CAP proposals, and we look forward to engaging with them again in the coming weeks.”
IFA representative Caroline Farrell said: “The IFA [was] delighted to be part of the meeting, and the department seemed to engage with us constructively with more meetings expected in the future.”
Further work with the DAFM was also outlined by Vanessa Kiely O’Connor, of ICMSA, who said: “We felt our proposals were welcomed and we look forward to working with them and their commitment to gender balance.”
Mona O’Donoghue Concannon of ICSA, and Louise Crowley from Macra na Feirme agreed the meeting had been positive, but Louise added that what followed would determine how serious the department was in its commitment to improving inclusivity in the sector.