IFA to hold nationwide rally in county towns on Friday



The IFA will hold a nationwide rally on Friday next to highlight the importance of commercial farming to the rural economy.

It will be the first large scale demonstration by IFA since the pandemic. Farmers will gather in county towns across the country to warn against the dangers in the current CAP proposals and the Climate Action Bill.

It’s estimated that the farming and food sector employs 300,000 people across the country and contributed €13bn in exports in 2020.

IFA President Tim Cullinan met An Taoiseach Michael Martin last week, where he told him that the current direction of the CAP and the Government’s Climate Action Bill could shut down commercial farming in Ireland.

According to the Teagasc National Farm survey, only one-third of farmers in Ireland are viable.

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The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D., has today announced that approval letters will begin to issue today to the 5,000 participants selected to participate in the REAP project.

This pilot is one of the transitional measures for Irish farming using funding secured by the Minister this year for environmental initiatives. It forms part of the suite of measures provided for in the 10th amendment to the Rural Development Programme recently approved by the European Commission.

Irish farmers have shown huge interest in participating in the project with over 10,800 applications to participate received by the closing date in mid-May.

The participants selected will now work with their advisors to score the land brought into REAP this year to establish its environmental and biodiversity status. In conjunction with their advisor, farmers will undertake environmental commitments to increase the environmental value of existing farm features with the aim of improving the environmental score in year two.

Farms with the highest scoring will receive the greatest payment.



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