Scheme offers €120 a hectare
This compares to €75 in AEOS, Simon Coveney, the agriculture minister, said as he announced the latest proposals for GLAS (the Green Low-carbon Agri-environment Scheme).
They are part of the 2014-20 rural development programme submitted to the EU last week for approval.
Details of the new GLAS were first announced last January. A second draft of the entire rural development programme followed in May.
Following consideration of last week’s final proposals by the European Commission, detailed discussions on the content of the programme will commence, said Mr Coveney.
The €1.45bn allocated to the GLAS will provide for up to €5,000 each for up to 50,000 farmers who comply with the five-year scheme’s requirements (see proposed payment rates below). It is anticipated 25,000 to 30,000 farmers will be accepted into GLAS in 2015.
GLAS is designed to deliver substantial benefits in biodiversity, water quality, climate change, and other environmental aspects.
Where they qualify, farmers on commonages will be fast-tracked into GLAS. The original requirement for 80% of active farmers to participate in collective action on commonage is replaced by either 50% of active farmers, or 50% of the total commonage land area.
An independently chaired implementation group will be established to address GLAS issues, said Mr Coveney.
It has been specified in the latest proposals that farmers who reach the 5,000 maximum by carrying out mandatory tier-one actions will get priority access to GLAS+, the supplementary scheme for farmers who take on particularly challenging environmental actions, to qualify for a top up payment of up to €2,000.
It has also been confirmed that having low-input permanent pasture in GLAS will attract a payment of €314; €315 per hectare per year is on offer for keeping traditional hay meadows..
New measures to help the conservation of important wildbird species will attract rates of €205 to €375 per hectare per year.
GLAS will include a traditional farm buildings grant of up to €25,000, covering up to 75% of total costs.
