Reserve to entice new entrants into farming
Macra has described the reserve as a great opportunity for young farmers to apply on land without entitlements or entitlements below the national average of €170 per hectare or €254 including greening.
“Young farmers will be entitled to apply once off to the reserve on a maximum of 90 hectares and the scheme will be open to applications up to 2019 subject to availability of funds,” notes Macra president Kieran O’Dowd. “Similar criteria will apply to the new entrants category except for the age restriction.”
Young farmers must be under 40, have begun farming since late May 2010, have an off-farm income under €40,000, and have an agri-qualification or begun education before late 2016.
“It’s important that mechanisms are in place to fund the national reserve up to 2019 to ensure young farmers commencing farming over the next few years have access to entitlements to give them a fair start in farming,” said Mr O’Dowd.
