Tangible Support & Strategy Needed for Hill Farmers – IFA

IFA Hill Farming Chair Caillin Conneely has said next week’s Budget must deliver tangible supports for hill farming.

“It’s time the unique challenges faced by hill farmers and the critical role farming plays in these areas, delivering socio-economic and environmental benefits, is matched by real and tangible support, starting with next week’s Budget,” Caillin Conneely said.

“It’s harder and harder to make a living on the hills, and it’s not hard to see why the next generation just isn’t coming through. Despite political platitudes, our ANC budget is still back €50m on where it was in the past, at a time when costs and regulation are going up all the time,” he said.

“We either have Government backing or we don’t. Minister Heydon needs to deliver here, and at a minimum the ANC budget needs to be re-instated back to where it was. More long-term, we need a long-term strategy to preserve and enhance the hill farming sector. Otherwise, we risk its continued decline and land abandonment,” he said.