The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has said that work is still ongoing on the details of a scheme for the “forgotten farmers”.
It is estimated that 4,000 farmers lost out on vital financial supports due to cuts in public expenditure by the government following the last recession.
This group of farmers had typically set up their agricultural holdings before 2008 and were under 40 in 2015 but did not qualify for Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) supports.
Forgotten farmers
In April, DAFM confirmed that it had developed a “preliminary outline of a proposal” to provide support to the forgotten farmers group.
Since that time the department has been working to address “a number of issues” with the proposed scheme, including the funding required and consistency with “public expenditure”.
A spokesperson for DAFM told Agriland again this week that these issues must “be resolved before the details of the eligibility requirements and benefits to successful applicants under the scheme can be finalised”.
“Details of the scheme will be made available as soon as this process has been completed,” they added.
The plight of the forgotten farmers was raised with Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue during Macra’s Ag Conference in Ballinasloe last weekend.
“This is nearly going on over a decade now,” Elaine Houlihan, Macra president, told Agriland.
“The minister was asked had he forgotten the forgotten farmers once again. He reassured us that he hasn’t forgotten them.
“When asked what is the timeline for the once-off payment or the scheme, he could not give us a timeline, he just reassured us that it is coming,” she said.
The Macra president was disappointed at the lack of clarity around the planned delivery of support for the farmers and said that efforts to resolve the outstanding issues must be “accelerated”.
“We’re always told that they’re not forgotten. We’re always told there is a commitment, but its the delivery now that we’re looking for with rising input costs on farms.
“Farmers cannot wait any longer for this and the forgotten farmers have been waiting long enough,” Houlihan said.