The Department of Agriculture has done a U-turn on Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) land being excluded from the €56m Fodder Support Scheme.

Category one ANC land had been excluded from the scheme when it was announced last week. However, by Saturday the Department had reversed the decision. All ANC lands will now be eligible for the €100/ha payment. IFA president Tim Cullinan described the initial exclusion as a “spectacular own goal” by Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue, while the INHFA president Vincent Roddy said that the condition would exclude 30,000 farmers from the scheme.

Minister McConalogue told the Irish Farmers Journal this week that he “immediately adapted and changed” the scheme as soon as the issue “was pointed out to me”.