Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) president Francie Gorman has accused Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue of driving a “coach and four” through the Farmers' Charter by “unilaterally” suspending the Straw Incorporation Measure for 2024.

Minister McConalogue’s failure to consult with the farm organisations prior to suspending the scheme had seriously undermined the Farmers' Charter, Gorman told a farmers’ meeting in Clonberne, Co Galway, on Wednesday evening.

“It’s not a good start to the new charter that we just signed up to a fortnight ago,” Gorman said.

Gorman reiterated the IFA’s position that suspending the Straw Incorporation Measure will be very damaging for cereal growers’ confidence and tillage farmers’ incomes.

Key plank

A key plank of the Farmers' Charter was that significant changes to the operation of support schemes had to be discussed with industry stakeholders before being announced, the IFA president pointed out.

Minister McConalogue had therefore acted in contravention of the charter by unilaterally deciding to suspend the Straw Incorporation Measure, Gorman claimed.

The IFA leader also insisted that the association remained fully supportive of the concept of Bord Bia’s quality assurance (QA) schemes, despite the association withdrawing from a major review process.

Such QA schemes ensured that Irish food has access to premium markets, Gorman said.

The association had withdrawn from a review of Bord Bia’s QA schemes because farmers were being asked to do too much, Gorman explained.

The IFA would commit to the QA review process when there was greater balance to the changes being sought, he told the meeting.

“We want to get delivery on QA schemes that work[s] for [food] industry and work[s] for farmers,” he said.