Questions have been raised surrounding the new Agri-Environment Climate Measure (AECM). Irish Farmers’ Association Rural Development chair, Michael Biggins says that higher AECM payment rates must be available to all farmers who participate. But as he raises the concern that farmers should be paid higher payment rates from the scheme a more pressing issue has emerged.
This as some say that the proposed budget for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), of which the AECM scheme forms part of, may not be enough to meet the demand from farmers wanting to take part in the scheme.
According to Biggins “the payment rate of €10,500 per farmer must not be limited to 20,000 farmers in the co-operative areas identified by the department and it cannot include non-productive investments required as part of the scheme”.
He adds that “the proposal is to open the scheme over a number of tranches and it is proposed to limit the number of farmers participating in the scheme to 50,000. This will not meet demand, based on current number participating in GLAS and the number who applied for the Results based Environmental Agri-Pilot (REAP).”
In addressing the concerns raised Biggins says that it is essential that all applicants under all tranches be accepted and paid in 2023, or that GLAS contracts be extended to bridge the gap.
The scheme will see eight areas identified by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), being able to get payments of up to €10,500. The average payment for these farmers, who would be part of proposed co-operative project teams, will be €7,400.
LSL News.