Actions taken by the Department of Agriculture, in notifying farmers and their Farm Advisors of possible problems associated with their Basic Payment & ANC Scheme has being welcomed by the Irish Natura & Hill Farmers Association.
National Chair Vincent Roddy outlined how early notification of any problems with these schemes is, something the organisation has sought since last autumn. This followed a major hold-up in the pay out of Basic Payment and the ANC Scheme.
While the INHFA would prefer if there were no problems with farmer applications the reality stated Mr Roddy “is that more often than not the problems are easy enough to resolve, provided the farmer has enough time” “The decision by the Department to notify farmers of any problems in early summer will give farmers that time “he added.
Mr Roddy also pointed to the INHFA campaign last autumn and subsequent meetings with Department officials as instrumental in delivering this change. For year’s farmers who were unfortunate enough to have small mapping problems or other issues only became aware of these problems when payments were not received by them in the autumn. This stated Mr Roddy “was a legacy of poor farmer representation which may never have changed if it were not for the INHFA”
Mr Roddy concluded by encouraging all farmers that are notified of any problems to work with their Farm Advisor in getting the problems resolved as soon as possible, to ensure payment next autumn.
