This article is from page 60 of the 2012-02-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 60 JPG
CLARE farmers may be forced to assemble every animal on their farm for all future cattle inspections, should new inspections requirements being put forward by the Department of Agriculture come into force.
The new assembly rules were just one of the main sticking points when a team of senior officials from the Department of Agriculture met officials from the farming organisations in Portlaoise last week.
The other main point of conflict was unannounced inspections, with IFA Deputy President, Eddie Downey, strongly rejected the idea that any spot checks should take place.
“Unannounced inspections are totally unacceptable and IFA is demanding that no inspector arrives on a farm without reasonable prior notice. There need to be better coordination of inspections and the avoidance of duplication as well as increased tolerances, reduced penalties and a strict adherence to prompt payment deadlines. Farmers will not tolerate a repeat of last year, where applicants selected for inspection encountered long payment delays.” he said.
“The assembly of animals involves a major additional workload, creates undue stress, adds considerable costs, and is an additional and unnecessary farm safety risk.”
Downey, who described some of the new proposals as “way over the top” saying that the department inspectors should be able to obtain a reasonable sample of tags without the necessity to bring all animals into the farmers’ yard.
He also called on the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney (FG), to intervene to ensure a more farmer friendly inspection regime. Pressure is also being placed on the Minister for Agriculture to ensure that the delays caused by maps and digitisation not be repeated in 2012.
“There is now significant advantages in submitting on-line SFP applications. Apart from the commitment to be processed and paid earlier by the Department, farmers and their agents can make changes to their applications and maps on line,” said Downey.
“Given the importance of direct payments to farm income it was vital that farmers make sure that their SFP application is made correctly and on time.
“This application is necessary for all schemes including the Single Farm Payment, Disadvantaged Areas, REPS 4, AEOS, Sheep Grassland, Suckler Cow Welfare, Dairy and Beef Discussion groups – it is absolutely essential that no mistakes are made.”