Changes to disadvantaged scheme could see some farmers lose out

Amendments to the EU-funded Disadvantaged Area Scheme could see thousands of hard-pressed Irish farmers excluded from payments, farm groups have cautioned.

The IFA and the ICSA have both called on Simon Coveney, the agriculture minister, to extend the Aug 24 application deadline for the 2012 scheme. This would allow farmers time to analyse the rule changes before submitting their applications.

The European Commission has added a retrospective requirement to have a stocking density of 0.3 livestock units per hectare for three consecutive months in 2011 — an increase from the previous rate of 0.15 livestock units per hectare.