The third Sunday in September each year marks the end of the football championship season, the week of the National Ploughing Championship and Government departments announcing a whole range of schemes, payments and agriculture-related news.

ANC to be paid

Included in the last week’s press releases from the Department of Agriculture, is the news that the annual areas of natural constraint payment, formerly the area aid payment, is to be paid imminently.

€55 per week

While of course this is to be welcomed by all cash-strapped farmers looking to get a few bills paid, the maximum any lowland farmer can receive under this scheme is roughly the equivalent of €55 per week.

There won’t be much change out of last week’s payment after a visit to the Ploughing, a good beef burger while there and a nice steak dinner on the way home.

Payments restored to pre-recession levels

Perhaps if the payment is restored to pre-recession levels in the forthcoming budget, low-income cattle and sheep farmers, particularly those based in the west of the country, would be more appreciative of the Department’s press announcement.

While musing through the latest Department of Agriculture notices, I note that the GLAS online training facility is now open to GLAS trainers to create and run GLAS training courses.

The only problem I see with this news is, now that courses are up and running, every GLAS I and II participant must complete a training course before 31 December 2017.

A lot left to be trained

Approximately 38,000 farmers require training within the next 60 weekdays.

That’s over 600 farmers a day who are required to complete the course before this year’s payment will be issued to bank accounts.

Disappointment

I suspect there will be thousands of farmers disappointed once again this year when the expected GLAS windfall is delayed until after Christmas.

Another announcement made last week included news of an increase in the advance Single Farm Payment from 50% to 70%

The fact that these schemes and payments are announced in the week when perhaps more attention is on agriculture than at any other time of the year, shows the importance and reliance placed on support payments received from Government and EU sources.

Farmers’ agreements with banks

Many farmers have agreed repayment plans with banks, suppliers and contractors based on the timing of payments from various schemes, and it is vital that all payments are processed and paid to recipients without unnecessary delays.

Cashflow

It is often said that cashflow is the lifeblood of any business and for many farmers the cashflow generated by schemes at this time of year, is the life blood to keep the rural economy going for another year.

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