Farmers not ready for REPS planning
He said many other EU member states do not use professional agriculturists in their agri-environment schemes. “It is an issue we are constantly reviewing and we considered it seriously for those engaging in extensive farming, or those following only a single farming method. We felt unable to go that far at this stage but we will bear it in mind for the future.
“The message should go out that we feel we have made changes which will enable planners to charge less money. If that does not happen, and I speak for the Minister for Agriculture and Food in this regard, we will look again at the role of the planner”, said Mr O’Donovan.
Oliver Healy of the Department explained that agri-environment operations in Europe are much more simplistic. “They take on only one or two measures. They have department personnel in those offices who help farmers prepare their applications. We are not in a position to do that here, and we have a much higher participation rate than any other country in Europe in this scheme.”
(Another difference is that farmers in other countries are not paid until the REPS work is completed.
In Ireland, the money is paid up front, on trust).
The Department officials urged farmers to ensure their planners are indemnified.
Mr O’Donovan said, “If a planner is guilty of misconduct, he or she will be penalised by us, but ultimately we are dealing with a commercial contractual relationship between the farmer and planner.”
He said farmers who lose money because of planner errors should pursue the planners who, as professionals, should be indemnified.
“Teagasc planners are indemnified by that organisation. It happens, for example, in the early retirement scheme that some solicitors have done a bad job in looking after a client’s interests. There are more than a few retired farmers whose pensions are being paid by the Law Society of Ireland because their solicitors did not make a proper job of applying to the Department of Agriculture and Food”, said Mr O’Donovan.
“We are not washing our hands of the matter but the contract is between the planner and the farmer. Our role is merely to approve the planner.”
