Macra na Feirme has called for a 50% top-up for young farmers on the proposed €10 per ewe payment in the new sheep scheme.

The organisation, which represents young farmers, met with officials from the Department of Agriculture last week.

“This top-up will be essential for young farmers to develop their enterprises in an industry which is more accessible for those starting out due to the lower cost of establishment in comparison to other farming enterprises,” said Macra president Seán Finan.

“We have seen with recent schemes such as the Beef Data and Genomics Scheme (BDGP) that an over complicated process can cause a lot of problems and I hope the Department of Agriculture has learned lessons from previous scheme rollouts and that the same mistakes are not repeated.”

The new sheep scheme, worth €25m was announced as part of the commitment to farming and the agri-food sector in the programme for Government. As there are around 2.5m ewes in the country, this is worth an estimated €10/ewe annually.

Earlier this month, the IFA and ICSA met separately with the Department of Agriculture to discuss the new sheep payment. It was confirmed at the meetings on Thursday that this money will be coming out of the Rural Development Programme (RDP) under Pillar II of the CAP. A submission to include this new scheme in the RDP will have to be made before the end of June as the deadline for amendments to the RDP is 30 June.

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