Macra: Proposed agri-environment scheme must help new entrants

MACRA na Feirme has insisted that the proposed new agri-environment scheme must accommodate new entrants to farming.

Michael Gowing, president, said it must also accommodate young farmers who were not previously involved in the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS).

“Otherwise it will discriminate against new entrants,” he said, stressing that the scheme is by no means a replacement for the REPS.