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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, farmers have “lost control of their lands as the EU and Irish state has effectively claimed squat...

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 carbon-rich soils was designation by the backdoor. Irish Farmers Association (IFA) president Tim Cull...

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 objective of the Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAEC 2) – appropriate protection of ...

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 said. The INHFA said these actions have failed for both the farmer and the environment as detailed by...

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 create a situation that agricultural activity on these soils is no longer viable, according to INHFA pr...