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There have been no negotiations or dialogue between Bord Bia and the IFA on the marketing agency’s planned farm sustainability scheme.
“No proposals have even been put to IFA,” IFA president Tim Cullinan said.
The details of the scheme, based on industry tender documents, were revealed exclusively by the Irish Farmers Journal.
Cullinan said: “I want to make it very clear: if Bord Bia and other agencies are cooking up a scheme to impose more bureaucracy and costs on farmers, it will be rejected by IFA.”
The programme aims to draw together all work on farm sustainability and create a mechanism to reward farmers and provide proof points for Bord Bia to market Irish food. However, the industry benefits that farmers will be able to access for after earning credits have not been outlined.
“Farmers are sick and tired of being asked to do more and more for less and less,” Cullinan said.
“At this time more than ever, Bord Bia needs to be fully focused on finding markets which are capable of paying viable prices for Irish food as a matter of urgency, not dreaming up schemes,” he said.
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