Approximately 1,200 farmers across the country are facing into a "catch-22" scenario this December. These are farmers affected by last month's change to the deadline for beginning the Green Cert, an educational requirement for acceptance into the National Reserve and Young Farmer Scheme (YFS).

Farmers were originally told they could begin their education by the end of September 2016 in order to be accepted into either scheme. But the goalposts were changed in November, and the deadline for beginnning the course was brought forward by the European Commission by a full nine months to 31 December 2015.

Teagasc, the nationally accredited agricultural training body, coped with the last minute change by organising course commencement days in mid-December for the affected students. However, the problem for these students is that letters notifying them of their acceptance into the National Reserve and YFS have yet to be issued.

These farmers are now wondering if they should go ahead and accept the offer of a place on a Green Cert course, and in the process pay a non-refundable deposit (or in some cases a full course fee), before they have even been notified of acceptance into the two schemes. The Department of Agriculture has said letters of acceptance will issue to farmers as payments are processed under the schemes. But, due to processing issues, only half of the farmers who applied to both the National Reserve and YFS will receive payments this month, starting on 14 December, while the other 50% will receive payment in January 2016.

"Catch-22"

Kieran Sullivan, a part-time sheep farmer in Co Waterford, said it is a "classic catch-22" situation. Kieran applied for the National Reserve earlier in the year and is due to attend a course commencement day for the distance learning Green Cert course in Kildalton College in Co Kilkenny on Wednesday 16 December. He will then be expected to pay a non-refundable €250 towards the €2,500 course fee. But Kieran has yet to find out if he has been accepted into the National Reserve and adds that if he is not accepted into the scheme, he "probably won't be able to afford to do the Green Cert".

If I'm not accepted onto the course, then €250 is a lot of money to be giving away for nothing this close to Christmas

Another National Reserve applicant who wished to remain anonymous said she phoned her local Department office in Portlaoise to find out if she could get any guarantee on whether she has been accepted into the scheme before Wednesday 16 December, when she is also due to attend the commencement day in Kildalton College. She said an official from the Department told her it was likely she would be accepted, but gave her no guarantees.

"If I'm not accepted onto the course, then €250 is a lot of money to be giving away for nothing this close to Christmas," she said.

The Irish Farmers Journal has contacted the Department in relation to this issue, but we have yet to hear back from them on this specific difficulty for affected farmers.

A spokesman from Teagasc said that 27 commencement courses are due to start between the middle of this week and the end of next week in a range of colleges across the country. Although he did not say how many students have actually paid a deposit for the courses, the spokesman said the full number of affected students, "around 1,200", are "expected to attend".

The top-up for the YFS is 25% on the eligible hectares submitted, or around €62 each, to a maximum of 50ha. The National Reserve was established using 3% of the Basic Payment ceiling, amounting to €25m for priority allocation to applicants. There were 7,000 applicants to the National Reserve and 8,700 to the Young Farmer Scheme in 2015. The majority of these applicants already have an educational qualification in agriculture, which is why only 1,200 applicants are affected by the current situation.