The €1.4bn GLAS scheme opened for applications on Monday, 23rd February 2015.
The group of farmers in Donegal who applied to GLAS on Monday morning. Agricultural planner Brian Dolan is far left
A group of farmers in Donegal have become some of the first people to apply to the new agri environmental scheme.
GLAS entitlements will be worth up to € 5,000 for eligible farmers per annum, with an additional €2,000 for those in GLAS+. Minister Simon Coveney announced that he is extending GLAS+ to all farms with a priority environmental assist, including the hen harrier. All such farmers will automatically receive up to €7,000 a year, depending on the area of land they have to manage.
Though the Department of Agriculture is awaiting official approval for the Rural Development Programme (RDP) from the European Commission, an agreement has been reached on the GLAS scheme according to Minister Coveney.
The Green Low-Carbon Agri-Environmental Scheme (GLAS) opened for applications on Monday morning with Donegal-based consultant Brian Dolan noting a large interest in the scheme. “We had people ringing here all day today,” Dolan explained. “We had existing customers and new people I’d never heard of making contact to see how they could apply. It was something to behold,” he added.
Dolan processed the applications for seven farmers on Monday morning and described the whole process as being “straightforward and simple”.
While applications opened on Monday morning to allow farmers talk to their planner about how best to progress their applications, planners cannot send those application to the Department of Agriculture for approval until the middle of March.
Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney previously stated that he wants 30,000 farmers to apply. Dolan, however, is concerned that it may not be possible to process that volume of applications before the end of May.
“I can’t honestly seeing it being done, but I’m open to correction on that for sure. It’s a big workload to add to the existing work like the Basic Payment Scheme, the Young Farmers Scheme, the Nitrates Derogation and others. We’re getting two or three young farmers in here a day alone so there’s a lot happening,” Dolan said.
(Source – Irish Farmers Journal – 24/02/2015)