The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has issued “principles” for the extension of the Green, Low-Carbon, Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS).
Michael Biggins, the association’s national rural development chairperson, has called on Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed to begin discussions on extending GLAS contracts for 36,000 farmers whose plans finish at the end of this year.
“It’s vitally important that the arrangements are put in place at an early stage to allow all farmers to make the necessary adjustments to their plans,” Biggins argued.
The IFA’S key principles for extending GLAS are as follows:
- Farm payment rates across all current GLAS measures must be at least maintained;
- Capital work payments should be extended with a farmer commitment that the action will be maintained for the duration of the transition. This includes fencing along water courses and hedging;
- The cost of extending a plan must be simple, with a declaration by the farmer that he will continue to carry out all the measures laid out in the original plan;
- Farmers not currently in the scheme, such as Agri-Environment Options Scheme (AEOS) farmers, and new entrants, would draw up a plan for one or two years so that they can join a “revamped” scheme in the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2022;
- Farmers currently in the organic scheme would get their plans extended and new entrants would be taken into the scheme.
The IFA has said that it will be making “a strong case” for agri-environment schemes to be adequately funded in next October’s budget.
Pig compound feed
In other IFA news, the association said today, Wednesday, May 13, that pig compound feed prices have “moved out of line” with ingredient costs.
Tom Hogan, the IFA National Pig Committee chairperson, has called on the industry to reverse recent price increases imposed from Friday, May 1.
“Compound feed mills supplying feed to the pig sector implemented increases of between €8-12/t for finisher ration last week and the price of weanling and link rations have also increased by €15-20/t,” he said.
Spot prices for cereal have not increased much above €200/t and barley is trading as low as €175, Hogan noted.