Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has no intentions of changing the date for cutting of traditional hay meadow under the Green Low-carbon Agri-environment Scheme (GLAS), despite political pressure in the last week.

Farmers who opted for the measure are waiting until 1 July to make their hay, as every other farmer sends plumes of dust into the air, taking full advantage of the good weather.

“Farmers select voluntarily from a menu of options. That is effectively a contract between those farmers and the Department of Agriculture,” Minister Creed told the Irish Farmers Journal.

“Some voluntarily opted for traditional hay meadow and one of the conditions of that is that you can’t cut until the 1 July.

“I can’t unilaterally renege on a contract that’s there. We are spending in the region of €18m per annum on that measure.”

Traditional hay meadow

He added that the traditional hay meadow measure is not compulsory and that it delivers €315/ha for up to a maximum of 10ha.

The IFA, ICSA and Fianna Fáil have been critical of this stance in the last week.

“With fodder stocks and reserves at a historic low, with most hay barns empty, it is crucial that there is a strong harvest of fodder this year,” Fianna Fáil agriculture spokesperson Charlie McConologue said. “It is simply unacceptable that the minister would ignore a very reasonable request. He needs to reconsider his approach and change his mind.”

IFA’s rural development chair Joe Brady said that land is now in good condition to conserve fodder, adding that this could change quickly, particularly on heavy soils.

Although the traditional hay meadow measure is well meaning, the ICSA rural development chair Seamus Sherlock said that “it is unconscionable that for the sake of a few days we would prevent farmers from making hay while the sun shines”.

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