Rural Development Plan Must Be Streamlined to Take in All Applications

IFA President Eddie Downey said he expects the Rural Development Plan to open this week. He said IFA will be insisting that all farmers are allowed into the scheme and the rules and specifications must not debar any farmers from joining.

“The application process will have to be streamlined to allow all those who apply in the coming months to join GLAS. Thousands of farmers in vulnerable sectors and regions who have been deprived of an agri-environment scheme for up to two years expect to be accepted into GLAS and to receive a significant payment in 2015.”

IFA Rural Development Chairman Flor McCarthy said, “In relation to other schemes such as ANCs, Knowledge transfer, TAMS and the Beef Data and Genomics scheme which also form part of the €4bn Rural Development programme early introduction is vital. All of these schemes play a vital role in respectively supporting low income, helping farmers to achieve greater efficiency, supporting vital on-farm investment, and helping support the suckler herd”.