Waste scheme deadline difficulties

MANY farmers will have difficulty in completing work under the farm waste management scheme before the year-end deadline, the IFA has warned.

The need to comply with EU environment regulations has resulted in a massive investment on farms countrywide.

IFA rural development committee chairman Tom Turley said the recent Teagasc national farm survey clearly highlights the scale of the investment, with a €1.4 billion spend in 2007 and at least an equivalent amount this year.

He said the momentum can be sustained if flexible arrangements are put in place at the end of the year to allow all farmers who begin work to secure grant aid. Mr Turley said a record number of farmers have completed work, with €160 million already paid out in grant aid to over 5,000 farmers this year.

A further 20,000 farmers are carrying out work under the scheme but many will have difficulty in completing it by the year-end deadline.

Mr Turley called for flexible arrangements to be put in place by the Department of Agriculture to ensure that any farmer who has started work is not denied grant aid.

“Completing work by the end of the year is going to be very difficult due to a lack of capacity of farm builders,” Mr Turley said.

However, he claimed the investment could be continued if the Government shows flexibility with the year-end deadline.