Department must prioritise young farmers, says O’Dowd

The Department of Agriculture, must prioritise and support all young farmers and not just new entrants to farming.

That’s the view of Macra na Feirme president, Kieran O’Dowd, who said the current proposals are seriously deficient in terms of supporting young people who commenced farming in the past number of years.

“A specific group of young farmers who missed out on young farmer CAP supports including Installation Aid and an inadequately funded single farm payment national reserve are being left out in the cold as the proposals currently stand,” he said.