EU proposals to up grants welcomed

TALK in Brussels of increased EU support in many farm schemes, including the Farm Waste Management Scheme, Dairy Hygiene Scheme and farm diversification schemes, has been welcomed by IFA.

The proposal from the Luxembourg Presidency of the EU to increase from 50% to 60% the farm investment aid that qualifies for EU aid in Disadvantaged Areas, and from 40% to 50% in non-Disadvantaged Areas is a step in the right direction, said IFA Rural Development Chairman Padraic Divilly.

The proposals will be discussed later this week in Brussels as part of the review of the EU Rural Development regulations.

Mr Divilly said Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan must insist on higher aid, in line with the Denis Brosnan recommendations on the Nitrates Directive.

She should seek EU approval to allow extra aid of 15% in the Disadvantaged Areas and 5% in non-Disadvantaged Areas for all young farmers less than 35 years of age, said the IFA Rural Development Chairman.

The current rules allow this increased aid to apply only for investments by young farmers within five years of becoming established in farming.

Mr Divilly said the time was also opportune to scrap the 20 income units requirement for farm grants, and the ineligibility for aid where production is increasing.

“This latter rule is now obsolete in the context of the Single Farm Payment and the freedom to farm”, Mr Divilly pointed out.

The higher grant aid suggested by current Council of Agriculture Ministers president Fernand Boden of Luxembourg follows a welcome easing in the European Commission’s proposals for designation of Disadvantaged Areas. Farmers here have welcomed the proposal that a 60% permanent grass level could qualify an area for disadvantaged status. Initially, it was proposed that Disadvantaged Area designation be based on a stricter interpretation of “natural handicap.”