New grant scheme for collaborative farming
The scheme will be funded under Ireland’s Rural Development Programme and co-funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. It will cover some of the costs of farmers who wish to combine their enterprises and form partnerships.
Mr Coveney said the benefits from such collaboration include improved work and life balance, greater efficiency, addressing land mobility and, most importantly, facilitating smoother inter-generational succession.
He said the aim of the scheme is to encourage new farm partnership arrangements by contributing to the legal, advisory and financial services costs incurred by farmers in the drawing up of their farm partnership agreement.
Mr Coveney said his department has established a new register of farm partnerships. It will cater for partnerships across all of the main agriculture enterprises. More than 850 farm partnerships have already applied to be placed on the new register since it opened in April, with some 550 being former milk production partnerships.
The vast majority of the 300 new partnerships, crossing all enterprises, will be contacted in the coming weeks and advised that the scheme is open for application.
Mr Coveney said that he was delighted to be expanding the sectors for which partnerships are available to all aspects of agriculture, including beef, sheep, tillage, and horticulture.
