Page 4 - Colm Odonnell News Today

May 7, 2021 9:18 am The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) has condemned a recent document released by the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM) on modelling future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments. INHFA president Colm O’Donnell said: “This totally misrepresents the reality that over 72,000 farmers representing almost 60% of all farmers, stand to gain under 100% convergence or full flattening. “Of these, over half would also gain substantially un...

AS fears continue to grow over the potential introduction of a regulation that could exclude thousands of farmers from getting their CAP payments, Colm O’Donnell, president of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) ,has penned an open letter to Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue. Signed by Colm O’Donnell on behalf of the INHFA, it reads: Dear Minister McConalogue, Advertisement As President of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA), I am writing to you on...

SHARING OPTIONS: Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) 2 requires the imposition of management practises that protect carbon-rich soils. Farmers on peatlands and wetlands are up in arms over plans to impose new rules in the next CAP which they believe threaten farmers’ “ability to exist” on these lands. In a letter sent to Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue, the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) has demanded a...

‘Huge disappointment’ for farmers as details of REAP revealed Reporter:  ); Farming organisations have said they are stunned and disappointed by the details of the Results-Based Environment Agri Pilot Programme (REAP) while others have described the pilot as a “damp squib”. Speaking after a meeting with the Department of Agriculture last week, IFA rural development chairperson, Michael Biggins said the details of REAP are a “damp squib”. He said that after the all the hype, the ...

April 16, 2021 12:47 pm The proposed move under the new Results-based Environmental-Agri pilot Project (REAP) to exclude commonage and land containing heather “stunned” the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA), which said such a move “confirmed its worst fears”. This follows a presentation made by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to the farm organisations yesterday (Thursday, April 15), which was met with dismay from some groups. Speaking today, INHFA pres...

April 14, 2021 10:00 am There is “a real danger that farmers will once again be the big losers” in the push by politicians and NGO’s to embrace ambitious proposals to increase biodiversity and address climate change through designated land policy, according to the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA). INHFA president, Colm O’Donnell, has stressed the need to firstly engage with farmers and landowners before any changes are made. O’Donnell stated that since the late 1990s,...

SHARING OPTIONS: Those receiving payments on soils mapped as carbon-rich will have to meet a different set of standards to other farmers. Farm organisations have aired concerns that restrictions for farmers on peatland and wetland soils in the next CAP will make farming in these areas almost impossible. A meeting of the Oireachtas agriculture committee was told that a new cross compliance condition, GAEC 2, requiring appropriate or minimum protection of c...

April 14, 2021 6:35 pm The Irish Natura And Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) has expressed concerns over the potential “detrimental” effects of a European Council proposal on the management of peat-based soils. Speaking at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture and the Marine, INHFA president Colm O’Donnell said that the proposal for an amendment to GAEC 2 is “unprecedented”. ‘Appropriate protection of wetland and peatland’ According to the European Commission, the main obj...

INHFA president Colm O’Donnell. \ Brian Farrell Since the late 1990s farmers have lost control of their lands as the EU and Irish state has effectively claimed squatters’ rights on their land through SAC and SPA designations, INHFA president Colm O’Donnell has said. “Through the 38 actions requiring consent on these lands, farmers are sidelined to the role of passive onlookers through the squatting actions of our State as applied through the National Parks and Wildlife Service,” he s...

The Irish Natura & Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) stressed the need for intervention from Minister McConalogue. There are fears that a proposed change to eligible hectare rules in the draft CAP proposals could see farmers on peat soils lose payments. The Irish Natura & Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) is calling on Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue to intervene and ensure the proposal on the management of peat soils is withdrawn. The European Council of Ministers proposal will cre...