The Dealer was amused to hear a contractor tell him about a recent job he carried out for a farmer that had been in REPS for eight years.

The farmer had left 1.5 metres from the hedgerows uncultivated, as required under REPS.

However, now that the scheme has ended and he is no longer getting paid, he decided to reclaim his valuable land, which had become overgrown.

The contractor was duly asked to come in with the track digger and tidy up the field boundaries, costing approximately €2,000 for the first six acres, and with plenty more fields left to do.

He told the Dealer that there were even sallys growing in the drains and that the biggest part of the job was hauling all the scrub away.

No doubt the farmer will have to reseed the ground now too.