Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 December 2014
3. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if tier 3 farmers are eligible to apply for the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme; if the funding is in place to facilitate these payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48481/14]
View answerMany farmers around the country who do not fall into the priority 1 and priority 2 categories under the new green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, are very anxious.
Many of these farmers were in REPS. They have small farms of 30, 40, 50 or 60 acres. Currently, they are very concerned that they are not in a position to go into the first or second priority categories. Are tier 3 farmers eligible for the green low carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, and if funding is in place, can we ensure the farmers outside the first and second priority categories could get into it?
We are taking close to 30,000 farmers into GLAS in the first go.
They must fit into a category.
I will go through the tiers shortly. We are trying to get as many into it as we can. There will be a second phase in which to take others, as we want to have 50,000 farmers in GLAS over the next few years. In tier 1, all farmers with priority environmental assets, PEAs, get first priority access to the scheme in year one and subsequent years. If any of the following PEAs are applicable to the holding, they must be chosen and the relevant actions planned: these are farmland habitat, or Natura locations; farmland birds, from hen harrier to grey partridge, corncrake, waders and so on; commonage land; a high status water area; rare breeds and so on. In the absence of any listed PEAs, a farmer, whether beef, sheep or dairy, with a whole farm stocking rate exceeding 140 kg livestock manure nitrogen per hectare - in other words, an intensive farm - or a farmer with more than 30 hectares of arable land will be considered under tier 1. That is because we are trying to get a mix predominantly of farmers in Natura or commonage areas and so on but with some intensive farmers as well.
With tier 2 we are considering farmers in vulnerable water areas, and this is primarily about low-emission slurry spreading, minimum tillage, green cover establishment from a sown crop, wild bird cover and so on. With tier 3 we consider everybody else, and any applicants would have a list of elements that can be applied on farms. We hope to get a number of farmers in on tier 3 as well. Tiers 1 and 2 will be prioritised but with 30,000 farmers or so coming into GLAS, we will be able to get quite a number in from tier 3 as well. Not everybody will get in the first time around but the vast majority of farmers will do so.
As with the single farm payment, the Minister is facilitating people with designations in the first priority category, which I understand. The second tier includes intensive and arable farmers. If we do not ensure the smaller farmer with up to 70 or 80 acres is included in tier 2, they will be pushed out. Some of these farmers came out pretty badly from the single farm payment system. Listening to farmers around the country, some feel that an intensive, arable or big farmer can get into this scheme but others are caught in a trap because they are not a priority. The Minister might refer to trailing shoe equipment but there are parts of the country down our way where such equipment could not be used. The farms are so small that seeds for wild bird cover would not be sown. We must try to facilitate those people caught in this way.
It is important to consider my record in this area. When we have had to choose who would go into schemes, we have given small farmers priority. In the past number of budgets, when we have introduced schemes, such as the agri-environment options scheme, we have given priority to the kind of farms mentioned by the Deputy. If we must choose with GLAS and implement criteria because we have more applicants than places, they will be put in place in a way that will have the most deserving farmers get in. It is important that GLAS would not be seen solely as income support, and this must be sold to the Commission and seen in real terms as giving an environmental dividend on farmland across the country.
I assure the Deputy that small farms will not be and have never been discriminated against by me. This is about an environmental dividend. There are other schemes dealing with disadvantaged areas and support for small farms on island communities, which exemplify how we have introduced measures that have never before been done. We are more than aware that we need to keep small family farms intact and on the land, even in disadvantaged areas. We will tailor schemes to support that process in future, just as we have done in the past couple of years.
I am not saying the Minister is discriminating against anyone. If we consider the conditions set down, there is a stipulation for farms to have a whole farm stocking rate exceeding 140 kg livestock manure nitrogen per hectare-----
That is tier 1.
-----or be an arable farmer. If a farmer has 40, 50 or 60 acres but does not fit the criteria - it may be bad land - is there a facility to enter the scheme? I do not think such farmers can get into it.
There is. We introduced the option for a more intensive level of stocking rate for tier 1 because we wanted a mix of farmers. The Commission indicated a wish for many different farmers in the new environmental scheme rather than it solely being for commonage and Natura lands or small, disadvantaged farms. Intensive farmers also need to be thinking about the environment with respect to the GLAS. The reality is they will be a minority of farmers, although some people may not want to hear me say that. The vast majority of farmers coming into tier 1 will be of the type we discussed earlier in commonage and Natura lands. There will also be smaller farmers coming in under tiers 1, 2 and 3. In many ways, I suspect they may be prioritised, although if we have to choose, we must examine the criteria, depending on who applies and how many applicants there are. If we accept 30,000 farmers into GLAS in the first round, we may get between 35,000 and 40,000 people applying. We will have to make some choices. I assure the Deputy that we will try to ensure every type of farm and structure will get into GLAS at some level.
