The work carried out by Teagasc research centres loses its benefit if there are not enough advisers available to transfer the findings to farmers, Macra na Feirme has claimed.

In its pre-budget submission, the young farmer organisation calls on the government to increase personnel in the advisory part of Teagasc in order to meet the needs of farmers. Macra is also proposing that the Department of Agriculture and Department of Finance provide the Education Strategic Vision project implemented by Teagasc with the appropriate resources to reform agricultural education.

Maternity

In order to encourage more female farmers into the sector, Macra is calling for maternity benefit for female farmers in its submission to the 2017 budget. The move stems from an announcement earlier this year that farmers whose child is born on or after 1 September 2016 will qualify for two weeks of paternity leave and a paternity benefit of €230 a week. Alongside that Macra proposes that the government should provide farm owners with aid to cover the cost of a replacement farmer to cover 14 days of holiday leave in order to reduce fatigue and thus lower the number of farm accidents.

The young farmer organisation also suggests that €2m be made available to young trained farmers to purchase grass measuring equipment and also allow them to reclaim VAT on lime bought for improving soil quality. Macra argues that with only 50% of Irish farms reaching their grass growth potential, incentivising young farmers to more precisely measure grass will allow better grass growth and utilisation while also allowing for better resistance to the volatility of grain and livestock prices via reduced feed bills as a result of more grass availability.

In order to address income volatility, Macra is encouraging the government to create a bond that would help farmers to manage it. Farmers would be allowed to take some excess income arising from a good year in farming and invest it in a government bond/fund and withdraw certain limits in a year of poor return while paying tax on exit from the fund.

Credit

Macra also believes that access to credit on favourable terms is a vital ingredient of success for all young farmers. The young farmer organisation is calling on the Government to create the necessary financial Instruments under the Rural Development Programme to make the European Investment Bank fund, which is aimed at young farmers and dairy developments post-quota in Europe, available to young trained Irish farmers. The Commission is inviting member states to include programme modifications to accommodate new financial instruments.

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