Record number for protection scheme
Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan announced yesterday that there are more than 46,000 farmers in the scheme.
“This exceeds the previous high point, reached at the end of REPS 1 in 1999,” she said.
Ms Coughlan said that there was a drop in demand after REPS 2 was introduced in November 2000.
A considerable number of farmers were coming to the end of their REPS 1 contracts at the time but were not rejoining the scheme.
Following the introduction of REPS 3 in July 2004, however, the number of applications rose steadily and shows no sign of falling away.
“This proves the attractions of REPS 3. We are processing more applications than at any time in the history of the scheme,” she said.
Ms Coughlan said decoupling has given it a further boost, because farmers will find it easier to adjust to the more extensive kind of farming that REPS involves.
Urging dairy farmers in particular to look closely at REPS, she said a farmer joining REPS 3 will get an average of €6,200 a year for five years.
“At a time when many farmers in the dairy sector are sitting down to plan their future, and looking at the kind of investment they need to make, that kind of regular money will open up their options significantly,” she said.
