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The Department of Agriculture is floating the idea of a scrappage scheme for small farmers who have payments of less than €1,250.
A small farmer scheme is among the schemes proposed by EU officials in Brussels for the next CAP.
Here in Ireland, the Department has suggested a scheme which would see farmers with small Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) entitlements cash them in.
In exchange for relinquishing their BPS entitlements, the farmers would receive a lump sum payment per year.
Farm organisations are not in favour of such a scheme because funding it would require top-slicing the BPS payments of all farmers
The farmers would no longer be subject to cross-compliance penalties, while the administration required by the Department would be drastically reduced.
Based on the details outlined by the Department, the scheme could be an option for as many as 14,000 farmers with small payments.
Farm organisations are not in favour of such a scheme because funding it would require top-slicing the BPS payments of all farmers.
It is one of a number of areas in which the Department is seeking the views of farmers for Ireland’s national plan for the next CAP.
SHARING OPTIONS: