Farm Assist payments exceed 10,000 as farm incomes at ‘breaking point’

THE number of people in receipt of Farm Assist payments has exceeded 10,000 as farming incomes hit crisis point, Fine Gael agriculture spokesperson Michael Creed said yesterday.

He said the November figures show 8,681 farmers in receipt of Farm Assist and 1,771 waiting for claims to be processed. This amounts to a total of 10,452 farm families whose incomes have been so decimated that they require supplementary income in the form of social welfare to survive.

Compared with the 2008 figure of 7,444 recipients, there is a significant jump of almost 30% in farmers who require Farm Assist to supplement their incomes.