REPS must have farmer buy-in - Minister Calleary

Farmer interest in the much-touted new REPS has been huge, but Minister Calleary is reluctant to go into detail on payment levels or scheme duration when asked by the Irish Farmers Journal.

“It’s far too early to tie down any specific detail around REPS. It’s good that it has sparked such a huge amount of interest. It shows the demand is there for the ambition of the scheme.

“I’ll have my first meeting with the various farm organisations on Thursday. We’re going to have a wide consultation on REPS. It’s not just this Department. It’s a flagship scheme for Government in terms of the sustainability agenda so we will be talking to the Department of Public Expenditure,” he says.

We’ve come a long way, and shown we are ambitious for the environment and the sustainability agenda

“I want it to be action-focused and results-driven, but I want it to be designed in partnership, rather than a top-down approach. There’s no sense in rolling out any scheme that doesn’t get buy-in on the ground from farmers.”

When quizzed on his stance on dairy expansion and the carbon footprint of Irish farming, Calleary says: “I’ll make an overall comment first. I’d like farmers to stop beating themselves up on the environment.

“It is a big contributor to emissions, yes, but look how far we have come. Look at all the changes we have made. We’ve come a long way, and shown we are ambitious for the environment and the sustainability agenda,” he points out.

I’m aware how important the derogation is. I see it as an important part of our armoury

“Given the transformation of the dairy sector, they know what’s ahead of them and what the market is going to demand of them in terms of sustainability. Teagasc has done a lot of work on the Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) for greenhouse gas. It’s going to be challenging, but I think the sector will meet that challenge, and herd reduction doesn’t have to be at the heart of it,” he says.

On farmer concerns about safeguarding the nitrates derogation, he says: “I’m aware how important the derogation is. I see it as an important part of our armoury. It’s hard fought for and hard maintained, it’s absolutely not a free pass. That’s a lazy commentary.”

Farm safety

The Health and Safety Authority was part of Calleary’s remit as Minister of State for Labour Affairs, a period which he says really opened his eyes to farm safety.

“I can’t emphasise enough that it only takes a millisecond for something to go tragically or catastrophically wrong. Martin Heydon will lead on the issue. He’s the first minister with specific responsibility for farm safety. There’s been some good work done this week, but genuinely that could be done every week.”

Farm retirement scheme

Asked about the potential for Ireland to develop a farm retirement scheme, the minister says: “We will consider it. “We have had young farmer schemes, top-ups and tax incentives for land transfer and leasing. We do need to change that profile, but you’re not just dealing with economics, the transfer of land is very emotive. And it’s not just in this country, it’s an EU-wide issue.“

There’s been a lot of good work done, farmers have been upping their game, but direct payments are essential

Forestry

With forestry planting way back on Government targets, Calleary says it is a challenge.

“Pippa Hackett is going to be the line minister there. There are a couple of different challenges. Firstly, there’s the licensing issue, we’re investing in staff resources to address that backlog. We are bringing a note to Cabinet around planning.

“Secondly, forestry has to become an integrated part of farming – it can’t be forestry or farming.”

Sheep and wool

“It concerns me to see wool being dumped. It was environmental before the term was invented. There’s a lot of sheep in my area, and we have a great product, there’s been a lot of good work done, farmers have been upping their game, but direct payments are essential and the sheep welfare support has been important,” the Mayo man says.