Agri schemes must be made a top priority, groups tell Coveney
That’s the view of the Agricultural Consultants Association and the Irish Farmers Association, which met last week.
IFA rural development committee chairman Flor McCarthy said both bodies agreed that Mr Coveney must show greater urgency on the issue.
All schemes under the rural development programme must be in place for farmers to apply this year, with payment applying in the case of GLAS from a contract date early in 2015.
He said the TAMS scheme must be broad-based, cross-sectoral, and have a definite timeline for the processing of applications, approvals, and payments.
The IFA also expressed concern that the knowledge transfer measure as it is currently designed will not have the impact it should have.
Both organisations agreed that farmers should be able to join two discussion groups, and not one as proposed in the programme.
The importance of having draft details of all schemes available well in advance of implementation was also stressed.
