Agri-environment scheme must accommodate all farmers  – INHFA

The Irish Natura & Hill Farmers Association has called on the Minister for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue, to guarantee access to all farmers that are willing to take on environmental measures under the new Agri-Environment Climate Measure (AECM).

National President Vincent Roddy has expressed concern about the proposed budget and the number of farmers that it will accommodate. 

The new scheme is a topic of debate among many Donegal farmers.

With an annual budget allocation of €300m supporting 50,000 participants, it will, he stated “see a large number of farmers unable to access support under this scheme as they seek to deliver improved environmental outcomes on their farms.” 

With climate change and biodiversity loss a major priority for this Government and farming central to that, he stressed that it is “vital that those farmers who are willing to engage are supported appropriately. This is why we are calling on the Minister to go back to cabinet to secure an improved budget.”

He continued: “Ultimately farmers want to farm and the key to success here will be accommodating this, in addition to the environmental ambition.”

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine published maps detailing the cooperation stream areas late last week; and announced the commencement of the tendering process for the management of the eight areas.  

The INHFA, Mr Roddy reported, was “inundated with calls from farmers enquiring for details on whether their lands were in these areas or not.”

The INHFA leader called on the department to provide clarity to all farmers as to which AECM stream they may qualify for, stating how “for some farmers it is very clear whether they are in or not, however there are many on the border of these areas where that detail is not apparent.”

In response to suggestions made by some that the proposed AECM will only support hobby farmers and landowners the INHFA President insisted that “that the best way to deliver for many of the areas detailed under the cooperation stream was through sustainable grazing”. This, he added, “was of course something that shouldn’t be just confined to the cooperation stream areas or even to farms that join the new AECM.”

He maintained that it is “vital to also recognise that many of the cooperation stream areas are also designated Natura habitats that come with major restrictions that limit farmer income and have done so for the last 20 years. When developing plans for these areas these restrictions are something that will need to be addressed.

Mr Roddy stressed the need for Minister McConalogue and the cabinet “to reassess the overall AECM budget, so they can accommodate and satisfactorily reward all farmers that want to deliver on improved environmental outcomes that will benefit all of Ireland's population.”