Speaking at Macra na Feirme’s annual agricultural conference in Limerick, Minister of State Andrew Doyle said that land mobility is one of the key issues in the future of agriculture.

“There’s a lot of recognition at Government level on the importance of land mobility,” Doyle said. “Long-term leasing is now the option of choice. I think from the point of view of land mobility, particularly in the tillage sector, that mindset choice away from conacre is very important.”

He added that when Ireland hosted the EU presidency in 2013, the joint oireachtas committee for agriculture held a discussion surrounding land mobility. The testimonial from an optimistic young farmer who used the land mobility programme spoke volumes to representatives present from other member states, emphasising the need for such a programme in the EU going forward, Doyle said.

Macra na Feirme national president Sean Finan called on the Government to continue its support of the programme, which he said will now expand out from the three pilot areas to become a national programme.

“We are now reaching the end of our initial phase of the land mobility programme and we aim to work with our stakeholders to make it a national programme,” Finan said. “I call on the Government and the department to ensure that sufficient resources are made available to ensure that new young farmers that want access to an education course can be provided with that.”

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