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Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed is to extend the deadline for the Knowledge Transfer (KT) programme by two months, the Irish Farmers Journal has learned.
The move comes as pressure mounts on the Department of Agriculture over prolonged delays and mishaps in the delivery of the key online portal needed to complete farmers’ KT applications.
Online portals for submitting the farm improvement plan, which for livestock farmers includes a breeding plan, grassland management plan, farm safety plan, profit monitor, and the veterinary herd health plan, were delayed for months before they went live on 5 and 6 May.
After a stuttering start, the entire system crashed on Wednesday, 10 May and is still unavailable. The online system for booking meetings with five days’ notice to the Department of Agriculture has also crashed.
The Agricultural Consultants Association made multiple requests for the deadline to be extended, with Teagasc also requesting an extension in the past week.
It is understood that the KT deadline will be extended until 31 July, which would give farmers and facilitators an additional eight weeks to complete the paperwork.
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