There will be no new AEOS programme in 2014 despite up to 13,000 farmers coming out of REPS 4 this year.

Early discussions on the Budget proposals suggest that the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney, will not bring in a new environmental package next year, but will wait until the new CAP package comes into effect from January 2015.

The move will anger the farm organisations who have lobbied strongly for a more meaningful environmental scheme to replace REPS.

Minister Coveney and his colleagues, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin, met a number of farmer delegations last week as pre-Budget talks stepped up a gear.

However, Minister Coveney is believed to have told party colleagues that a new environmental package was not in his plans for next year. He also ruled out suggestions that the current REPS 4 scheme would be rolled over for a further year.

Minister Coveney has to find €53m in savings for the Budget this year, with €28m to be cut from the Department of Agriculture’s current spend and €25m from the capital allocation.

The 13,000 leaving REPS 4 should deliver savings of more than €35m in the Department’s overall spend, but it has been suggested that some or all of this total could be carried into next year by delaying REPS payments to farmers.

Talking to the Farming Independent this week, Minister Coveney also raised the possibility of bringing forestry funding back under Pillar II.

Given that the €80m forestry programme is funded exclusively at national level, moving forestry into Pillar II would mean that it could be co-funded on a 50:50 basis by Brussels, and deliver savings of €40m. However, the Government also has the option of lowering their co-funding commitment in Pillar II to as low as 15pc.

Minister Coveney has committed to introducing tax changes to encourage land mobility in the Budget. He reiterated this last week at various meetings with TDs and farm organisations.

Meanwhile, the ICMSA has warned that any move to bring forward the pay-and-file deadline for the self-employed to September 1 would play havoc with cash-flow on farms.

It is understood that an earlier pay-and-file date has been mooted because of the Budget date being moved forward to mid-October.

However, at a meeting with ministers Noonan and Howlin last week, the ICMSA voiced their total opposition to such a move.

ICMSA president John Comer said bringing forward the pay-and-file date would “negatively impact” on farm families, as many depend on their Single Farm Payment (SFP) to pay their tax liabilities.

As the first 50pc of farmers’ SFP is not paid until mid-October, bringing forward the tax payment date to September for self-employed people would hit cash-flow on farms.

On the question of land mobility, the ICMSA president called for the 1pc stamp duty rate for transfers to close relatives to be extended. The measure is due to expire at the end of 2014.

Mr Comer also claimed that reductions in the Capital Acquisitions Tax (CAT) thresholds in successive Budgets had been excessive and had worked as a disincentive on land transfers.

“We believe that the retention of 90pc agricultural relief for CAT is absolutely essential to ensure transfer from one generation to the next in a tax efficient manner,” Mr Comer said.

“We also firmly hold that farm families should be able to avail of the same tax relief for farm leases as non-related farm persons,” he added.

(Source – Irish Independent – Declan O’Brien and Darragh McCullough – 24 September 2013)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Farmers to Take €6,000 Income Hit as Minister Shelves Eco Friendly Scheme

Some 13,000 farmers will take an income hit of nearly €6,000 each next year due to the decision not to operate a new environmental farming scheme next year.

As the Ploughing Championships opened in Ratheniska, Co Laois, Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney confirmed yesterday there would be no new agri-environmental scheme in 2014 to cater for the 13,000 farmers leaving the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) in coming weeks. A massive crowd of 81,000 people attended yesterday, up 56pc on the 52,000 who attended last year’s opening day in New Ross, Co Wexford.

The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) warned that this would cut many low-earning farmers’ incomes in half even though many worked in conservation zones with stringent environmental restrictions.

Average earnings from the scheme were €5,800 a year for eco-friendly measures such as planting hedgerows or keeping a lower number of animals.

Mr Coveney acknowledged that many farmers currently coming out of REPS relied on those payments for “a significant part of their income”.

He said that a comprehensive new EU environmental scheme would be put in place from 2015 as part of reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy.

“Farmers will get real security from that in terms of knowing what a comprehensive environmental scheme looks like for the next five years as opposed to trying to put a makeshift scheme in place for next week,” he said.

IFA rural chairman Flor McCarthy demanded a “lifeline” for the 13,000 farmers exiting REPS to extend the scheme for another year.

While there is another environmental scheme called AEOS (Agri Environment Options Scheme) in place for 20,000 farmers, Mr Coveney’s decision means no new applicants will be able to join it or any similar scheme next year.

CHALLENGES

AEOS provides lower payments averaging €3,200 each per year.

The IFA said around 3,500 farmers had been refused access to this scheme this year as funding was capped and it should at least be opened to them.

President Michael D Higgins said that helping young farmers to get land was the greatest challenge facing modern agriculture.

Speaking at the official opening of the Ploughing Championships, he said Irish farming had changed profoundly since it was last held in Ratheniska in 1943 with many new challenges. “Enabling young farmers to access the land they need to make a living in agriculture is the greatest of all of these challenges,” he said.

“The current age structure of Ireland’s farming population is a big issue. Only six per cent of Irish farmers are under the age of 35.”

By contrast, 51pc of farmers were over 55 and and nearly a third were over 65 – but only a tiny fraction of land changed hands each year.

“Too many farmers have no designated person to whom they plan to transfer the farm,” Mr Higgins said. “Yet at the same time, many young farmers want to take up farming and they are more and better and fully qualified to do so, but often they cannot find land. Very little farmland is sold in Ireland in any given year – less than 0.5 per cent.”

Mr Coveney said he was committed to introducing innovative measures in the budget on farm taxation and also to support farmers in vulnerable sectors.

He has to secure savings of €53m in his department in the budget, with €28m to be cut from current spending.

Traffic moved very well to the ploughing championships and there will be no changes necessary today, said Garda Superintendant Yvonne Lundon.

“It moved really smoothly. Everything kept moving and there were no hold-ups,” she said.

The site was very well positioned at the centre of a number of major road junctions, she said, paying tribute to the gardai who were on duty since 5.30am and the public for heeding their directions to keep the huge crowds moving.

(Source – Irish Independent – Aideen Sheehan – 25/09/2013)