The inclusion of scrub land in the definition of an eligible hectare could resolve the contentious issues around land eligibility, the IFA has said.

Last week, the Irish Farmers Journal revealed that the Department of Agriculture has proposed that scrub and non-agricultural features be included in the definition of an eligible hectare.

“The proposed change in land eligibility, to allow up to 30% of a parcel to consist of features that may be beneficial to climate and biodiversity to be considered eligible may go some way towards resolving the contentious problems around land eligibility,” an IFA spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal.

“In the past, farmers were forced to exclude land deemed ineligible because it was classified as an area of scrub, or other non-productive features. We have yet to receive an outline of how this will operate at a practical level and any implementation of it will have to be pragmatic and sensible.”

ICSA president Dermot Kelleher said he had spent 10 years “fighting the injustice of red lines being drawn on land parcels, the effect of which is to penalise farmers on more marginal ground and actively damage biodiversity at the same time.”

He said he was a founder of the disadvantaged area farmers’ legal challenge, which has long tried to establish that penalising farmers under the LPIS review by drawing red lines around every tree and bush was unjust: “I am pleased now that common sense finally seems to be taking hold.”

He said there cannot be a CAP which “proclaims biodiversity as a central goal and then penalise farmers who already have the biodiversity.”