Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has defined family farms, for the purposes of TAMS III applications, to be 90 cows or under, in a letter to Macra.

“A family farm in the context of TAMS III is a typical dairy farm. The average dairy farm has approximately 90 dairy cows,” the minister’s private secretary wrote.

Macra president John Keane said he was seriously concerned about the use of the words “typical” and “average” when defining the family farm.

“If you follow that train of thought, the average suckler herd of around 18 cows would be defined as a family farm, a cattle-rearing farm would be 40 animals and a tillage farm would only be a family farm at 60ha in size,” Keane pointed out.

“Is the minister serious that a farm with 121 cows supporting three generations or a farmer with 20 sucklers is not a family farm?

Macra has called for a meeting with the minister to seek clarity on the definition.

Land mobility fund

On Wednesday, Keane said the Macra/ FBD Land Mobility Service has waited 16 months for the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to meet his promise to double funding for the service.

The service, Keane argued, needs more support in order to be embedded nationally. Already, the service has facilitated in excess of 962 arrangements, involving more than 75,000ac.

As we went to press, Minister McConalogue committed to securing €100,000 for the service in 2023.