The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) Vice President Brendan Joyce has renewed the call for the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed to clarify the uncertainty surrounding his recent announcement to introduce compulsory electronic tagging (EID) from the 1st of October 2018
At a meeting (today) Monday the INHFA reiterated their position that the October 1st deadline is unworkable and that this start date must be deferred, so that the massive negative impact midway through the store lamb trade is avoided. It was also highlighted that if the minister persisted with the October 1st start date that a derogation would be required for all lambs traded before this with a single conventional tag.
The INHFA submission pointed out the unfairness of the current proposal of €50 per flock owner and called on the Minister to fully fund the additional cost of €2million per year that is now being placed on farmers. “Joyce called that this payment must be made on annual basis for the successful transition to full EID”.
Concluding the INHFA Vice President highlighted “the significant room the Minister has at his disposal in this regard with €6million per annum underspend in the Ministers commitment to the sheep sector through the sheep welfare scheme”.
