Designated land

SAC chair Padraic Joyce has said that Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys must ensure the commitment given by the NPWS to review previous agreements on the designation of land is meaningful and backed up with funding in the upcoming budget for the reopening of the NPWS farm plan scheme. The IFA continues to insist there can be no designations without compensation and an opportunity exists to revisit this issue.

Milk price

Irish co-ops must continue to increase milk prices for August and later supplies, dairy chair Sean O’Leary has said. Butter prices continue to rise, returns from EU commodities for the middle of August amounted to around 40.7c/l before processing costs and global demand is strong. Dairy prices are set to remain strong at least to year-end and every cent passed will make a significant positive difference.

Carcase monitoring

Angus Woods, IFA livestock chair, has requested that the Minister for Agriculture instructs agricultural officers working in meat plants to live monitor carcase classification, carcase trim and weights on a daily basis to ensure farmers are getting the most accurate returns. The IFA has demanded that the minister establishes an independent appeals process for farmers who feel their results are not accurate.

Renewable incentive

The establishment of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) must be fast-tracked to allow for implementation in the first quarter of 2018, James Murphy, IFA renewables chair has said. Certainty and clarity on the details are required and it is important that the minister follows through on his commitment to announce details of the scheme within the next month. Keep updated at www.ifa.ie.