Macra has proposed a farm succession scheme to An Taoiseach and Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue that would see farmers paid €484 per week to retire.

This proposed payment is based on a 40-hour working week and, if added on to a State Pension, would mean the retired farmer would earn well in excess of €700 per week or €36,000 per annum.

Macra said that this support payment is “broadly commensurate” with the total funding package detailed within the dairy exit scheme proposed by the Department of Agriculture.

Young farmers

The other element of Macra’s financial proposal includes a support payment of €100,000 for young farmers.

Macra has also called for a low-interest loan scheme that has a ringfenced 30% allocation specifically for young farmers. The fund would provide unsecured loan amounts up to €500,000.

In order to support investment, Macra has also looked for a TAMS III specifically for the adoption of measures that are not supported by TAMS II, with a ceiling of €90,000 and a rate of 80%.

Macra has been calling for a succession scheme since the end of April when its members walked from Athy in Co Kildare to Government buildings in protest over issues facing young people in rural Ireland.

Monday’s meeting followed the commitment from An Taoiseach in April to meet with Macra within two months’ time to discuss the succession scheme further.

Further meetings

Macra president Elaine Houlihan told the Irish Farmers Journal that further engagement from Minister McConalogue has been promised and that the meeting was very positive.

“They asked for more costings in relation to the scheme so we are going to get that over as soon as possible.

“The minister also said that there are no further developments on a dairy exit scheme,” she said.