Macra has welcomed Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue’s commitment to shortly announce a scheme to support farmers commonly referred to as the “forgotten farmers”. However, the young farmer organisation called for greater clarity regarding such a scheme.

The forgotten farmers group, thought to include up to 3,500 individuals, are those farmers who missed out on installation grants, young farmer top-ups and other schemes in the last CAP.

Macra president John Keane commended the minister for bringing forward a set of criteria to provide funding for this cohort of farmers. The minister made the announcement at the Macra annual conference this weekend.

“For over a decade Macra has been actively involved in discussion and has made countless submissions in relation to the forgotten farmers. It is something that has been on our agenda as these once young farmers were neglected at the time,” he said.

Further work

Keane said the criteria outlined by the minister will need further work to clarify the exact number that will qualify under the proposed scheme.

Minister McConalogue proposed that the scheme under development will apply to those farmers who:

  • Did not benefit from installation aid.
  • Were aged no more than 40 in 2015.
  • Had required a level 6 qualification by 2015.
  • Had submitted a Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) application in 2015.
  • Did not benefit previously under the national reserve in BPS or SPS under any category.
  • Had been set up as head of agricultural holding before 2008.

    • “It is Macra’s belief that every forgotten farmer needs to receive the nominal sum of supports that they have missed out on since 2008. There also needs to be clear funding outlined for the scheme and how these forgotten farmers can access the funds. Every effort must be made to ensure that all forgotten farmers are catered for under the new scheme.

    “We cannot have a situation where some forgotten farmers are left out for a second time. The value of fairness must come through on this and all those that were forgotten must be included to resolve the issue once and for all,” he said.

    Minister for AgricultureCharlie McConalogue. \ Philip Doyle

    The Macra president said his organisation will make a further submission to the minister in the coming weeks that will further outline its proposals and deal with some outstanding questions that have now arisen.