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Farmers in Teagasc-facilitated Knowledge Transfer (KT) groups will have to pay a Teagasc club fee for year two or transfer to non-Teagasc groups, the organisation has indicated.
The Teagasc club fee is €145 for a farmer with between one and 50 livestock units.
A Teagasc spokesman said: “It is Teagasc policy that all KT discussion group members in any Teagasc-facilitated discussion group must be paid up clients of Teagasc.”
When asked if farmers who did not pay the fee would be excluded from the scheme, he said Teagasc does not have a policy of excluding anyone from participation in this or any other scheme.
“However, we do treat all farmer clients on an equal basis in relation to collection of debt.
“Normal debt collection processes are dealt with through the regional manager, where consideration can be taken of an individual’s circumstances and ability to pay.
“If a farmer is unhappy with the service provided by Teagasc, we are willing to facilitate any farmer who wishes to transfer to a non-Teagasc discussion group,” they said.
Teagasc and private consultants are paid €500 per farmer in its KT groups by the Department of Agriculture but farmers in private KT groups are not charged any membership fee.
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