New compliance requirements set to drive fear into farmers

IT is not long since the publication by the Department of Agriculture of the “Good Farming Practice” guidelines — a set of basic and practical standards for farms.

It made demands only on those who had been neglectful in their ways, and posed no threat to the majority of farmers who were already farming at or above the standards recommended.

But even while farmers are still digesting it, it will be swept aside by the plethora of compliance requirements which will be imposed on farmers next January.