FARMING DESK

ICMSA wants total revamp of Dairy Beef Scheme

ICMSA President Pat McCormack has called for a total revamp of the Dairy Beef Scheme and an acceptance on the part of the Minister for Agriculture that the scheme has to be “refunded, reenergised and redesigned”.

Mr McCormack also took aim at some commentators and said he wasn’t “willing to sit there and be lectured at”.

He said some of those commenting on the sector “can barely disguise their animosity towards commercial farming and their ambition to end our sectors and livelihoods”.

The ICMSA President said that the princi- ples underpinning ICMSA’s proposed ‘pivot’ towards dairy-calf-to-beef had not changed and were, if anything, becoming even more compelling.

“It is more profitable, it has lower emissions and it can address some of the issues around animal welfare that we have seen used against us by groups and individuals who don’t need to be asked twice to find something to use against all commercial farming,” he said.

Minister needs to solve payment delay

IFA Deputy President Brian Rushe has called on Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to revisit his plan to delay payments to farmers in 2023, rather than move the debate into next year.

“The Minister’s commitment to review the dates for 2024 onwards rings hollow. He is not willing to revisit his plans to delay payments in 2023 and is instead putting his head in the sand and trying to move the conversation onto 2024,” Mr Rushe said.

The Department of Agriculture’s plan means ANC payments would be pushed out by four weeks and the Basic Payment pushed back by two weeks.

“Any delay in farm payments this year is 100 per cent because of unilateral action and poor planning by the Minister and his Department,” Mr Rushe claimed, accusing the Department of “doing a solo run”.

“Now the Minister needs to front up and solve it. They seem to have no concept of the importance of these payments or the impact any delay will have on farm families, particularly this year when cash reserves will be tight on many farms as revenues fall and input costs remain stubbornly high,” he said.