The lack of enthusiasm among farmers for the long-awaited Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS) is now clear, with DAERA missing its own targets for both the higher and wider levels in the first tranche of the scheme.

Over 40% of farmers who were accepted on to the higher level of EFS for land in environmentally designated areas have now dropped out without work ever getting started.

A DAERA spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal this week that 249 site-specific remedial management plans (ssRMP) were submitted by independent scheme planners on behalf of higher-level applicants.

However, in June, 422 of the 926 applicants were accepted on to the scheme so, in turn, 173 dropped out by the deadline at the start of October. Each ssRMP must be approved by DAERA to form the basis of scheme agreements that are due to start in January 2018.

It means that DAERA has missed the initial target of having 300 higher-level agreements in place in the first tranche.

Wider level

The target for the wider level of EFS, which was open to all types of farmland, has also been missed. Only 1,187 farm businesses accepted offers of agreements for the first tranche in July, a figure significantly short of the initial target of 2,000.

Overall, it was projected that there would be space for 6,200 individual EFS agreements on both the higher and wider levels across several tranches. With the second tranche due to open next year, it appears an urgent rethink is required within DAERA.

A major sticking point for farmers has been the lack of financial incentive on both levels of the scheme. Payments are set to only reimburse farmers for costs or income lost from adopting scheme measures.

In the higher level of EFS, reports suggest that a high proportion of farmers dropped out when the actual requirements of the scheme became clear. Planners contacted by the Irish Farmers Journal confirmed that set stocking rates during the summer, and no grazing from November to March, were unpopular requirements with farmers on upland heath moorland.

“It is a similar requirement to previous agri-environment schemes, but some farmers thought EFS would be more flexible, and pulled out when they realised they wouldn’t have enough winter grazing,” one EFS-approved planner said.

Another issue appears to have been the availability of planners to carry out land surveys and design scheme plans. Several planners have said the delays in opening the scheme meant they had taken on other work and were then limited in how many EFS scheme plans they could undertake before the October deadline. “I was receiving phone calls from farmers to see if I could design plans two weeks before the deadline, but I was fully booked up,” another planner said.

The fee for the planner’s work is to be agreed between the planner and farmer. The farmer is then reimbursed by DAERA after the plan is approved. However, planners continue to raise concerns about receiving payment for work carried out before farmers decided to pull out of the scheme, or for plans that were submitted but are then not approved by DAERA.

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Full coverage: EFS