A national meeting on policy threats to farming on peat soils will be held next Thursday, March 6 by the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) at 8:00p.m in the Hodson Bay Hotel, Athlone, Co. Roscommon.

The farming association has said that Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) conditionality, "so-called 'reduced intensity' farming proposals", and the requirements under the Nature Restoration Law are posing a "threat" to farming on peat soils.

The meeting will also hear an update on the IFA campaign for an immediate payment from national funds under the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).

Announcing the meeting, IFA deputy president Alice Doyle said that farmers "need to be fully informed" about policies and what is going on.

She said that most of the issues to be discussed at the meeting next week "are resulting from decisions made by the previous government", and by the previous members of the European Commission.

"However, the new government and commission seem to be hellbent on implementing all of these measures, despite promises of simplification and reduced bureaucracy,” she said.

“These measures threaten to wipe out commercial farming and devalue land at the stroke of a pen,” Doyle added.

The IFA has invited Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon to attend the meeting.

“We appreciate that the invitation to the minister is at short notice, but it is not good enough that farmers are hearing plans for their land in the media and through press releases.

"The new minister needs to come out and tell farmers what the government plans actually are,” Doyle said.

The IFA has consistently said that measures cannot be imposed on farmers in a "top down manner", and the association is calling on the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) to be "open and transparent".