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Macra president John Keane has warned plans to open up a dairy cow scrappage scheme in 2024 could impede young farmers’ access to land.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue said on Thursday that he expects a voluntary cow reduction scheme will open in 2024.
Details of the scheme are to be decided over the summer as the minister engages with farmer representative groups on his plans.
Chief among Keane’s concerns is the Food Vision Dairy Group’s final report advised that any land belonging to any farmer participating in a cull scheme should not be stocked with “breeding ruminants”.
Macra has suggested that this could “sterilise” land and leave the land base from which farmers can seek to buy or lease tight.
“This will undoubtedly reduce the stock of land available for farmers who wish to rear breeding animals, it will further increase the price of land paid for lease and sale,” the Macra president said.
“It will put pressure on our tillage sector to compete for land and negatively affect the Government’s targets to increase the tillage area in Ireland.”
Opposition
The young farmers’ group had rejected the idea of a cow reduction when the Food Vision group report was being finalised.
Macra was the only farming stakeholder to be noted in the report to have rejected the proposed scheme outright.
The IFA reserved its position on the measure and the ICMSA reserved its position on the report as a whole.
“With less than 6% of active farmers under 35, the minister needs to pursue a succession policy in farming and not an exit policy,” Keane continued.
“This measure, if proceeded with in a manner that is excluding the future of farming in Ireland, will further reduce the amount of young farmers who are the future of both the agricultural industry and food production in Ireland.”
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