I was in Killorglin at the IFA County Executive last week to hear a flavour of farmer views on the recently announced GAEC 2, rewetting and ACRES challenges. The sense of frustration was crystal clear. IFA’s Shane Whelan did an excellent job defining the state of play for each scheme. He of course outlined the years of IFA actions and lobbying, to highlight the potential problems with GAEC 2. In reality, this is of little use now that the minister has actioned the CAP conditionality measure. When you look at the peatlands map, Kerry is particularly hard hit. Their farmers feel isolated. Cleaning and deepening drains is an everyday occurrence in a county like Kerry. It keeps farms productive. If farmers are going to have to get permission to do this, I fear it may be a step too far.
I was in Killorglin at the IFA County Executive last week to hear a flavour of farmer views on the recently announced GAEC 2, rewetting and ACRES challenges. The sense of frustration was crystal clear. IFA’s Shane Whelan did an excellent job defining the state of play for each scheme. He of course outlined the years of IFA actions and lobbying, to highlight the potential problems with GAEC 2.
In reality, this is of little use now that the minister has actioned the CAP conditionality measure. When you look at the peatlands map, Kerry is particularly hard hit. Their farmers feel isolated. Cleaning and deepening drains is an everyday occurrence in a county like Kerry. It keeps farms productive. If farmers are going to have to get permission to do this, I fear it may be a step too far.
Some farmers who farm and manage hundreds of mountain acres do more for the environment than all the State agencies together. However, the frustration at the red tape and inability to continue to farm in a low intensity way is deeply frustrating for them. Technically, GAEC 2 or the proposed rewetting voluntary schemes are not a designation, but Kerry farmers are wiser than that. They know that often voluntary becomes compulsory. They have been burned on schemes in the past, like the Hen Harrier and now ACRES. Over 4,000 Kerry farmers are in ACRES. Danny Healy-Rae was in attendance, but the list of Kerry challenges is getting longer. There was a definite sense of a storm brewing.
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