Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 October 2015
6. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if tranche 2 of the green low-carbon agri-environmental scheme will contain the same measures as tranche 1; if not, the options being changed and the reasons for those changes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34034/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraAre there any changes to the measures in tranche two of GLAS compared with as tranche one? There is concern over whether the options for hedgerow planting and low input permanent pasture will remain the same.
I thank the Deputy for asking the question because it gives me the opportunity to clarify a number of matters. I know Deputy Ó Cuív asked the question earlier.
For the second tranche of GLAS, which I intend to launch next week, I have revisited the various actions that will be available to farmers in the light of the substantial progress made to date. GLAS differs from previous schemes in that it adopts a very targeted approach to meeting its environmental objectives and the RDP includes a provision for review and reassessment after the first tranche. Not all the actions which have met or exceeded targets require to be adjusted, given that the associated spend is in many cases relatively easily accommodated in within the total budget.
However, given the very high uptake of low input permanent pasture, it is proposed to adjust the provision of this action under the next tranche. It will still be possible to take up to 10 ha of either low input permanent pasture or traditional hay meadow as before, but the low input permanent pasture component will be limited to 5 ha. The average application for low input permanent pasture so far has been about 7.5 ha, so we will reduce that slightly. While this means that we will still see permanent pasture coming into GLAS, I hope it will encourage more farmers to take the hay meadow option, which is well behind target, and which delivers the same payment per hectare.
I am proposing to suspend the planting of new hedgerows for the second tranche, along with the planting of traditional orchards. Both actions have met their targets for the entire RDP, and there are concerns about the availability of planting stock. I will, however, review this in the third tranche. Most of the concern I have heard is about the planting of hedgerows.
No. It is about low input permanent pasture.
Under the first tranche, so far 8 million plants have been ordered. Our contacts with the forestry service and relevant nurseries indicate they will have serious difficulty supplying even the quantity of planting stock in the timeframe required for the tranche one applicants.
I thank the Minister.
We are changing the hedgerow option for practical reasons. First, we have already met the target for that item for the whole of GLAS in tranche one. Second, our industry has real problems even with our current commitments as opposed to opening an entire new tranche on it. In other words, to solve this problem we would need to import huge volumes of trees, which is a disease risk and a concern so we are taking a practical approach here. From an environmental point of view, we have already met and surpassed our targets on this. Our nurseries have reached capacity and are already stretched to deliver on tranche one.
I thank the Minister.
That is why we are looking at farmers taking up other options instead of planting new hedgerows.
I will come back to the Minister.
The Minister's response on the availability of hedgerow plants rings fairly hollow. Similar to the issue with the low input permanent pasture, his main approach here is based on the fact that the uptake is high. There is no reason to change the low input permanent pasture. Unfortunately, the impact will be that, particularly for smaller farmers in my county of Donegal, many farmers who under tranche one were able to achieve the full €5,000 payment under this environmental scheme will now only be able to achieve €3,000 largely because the Minister is removing the low input permanent pasture measure.
In many ways GLAS has been a disappointment to some farmers in that it was not what was expected. However, the Minister is making this change without any prior notification affecting farmers who have been waiting for tranche two for various reasons, some of which relate to the confusion the Minister caused over the commonage issue, which affected 40% of farmers in County Donegal. Initially he wanted 80% to sign up to a commonage grazing plan. The plan then became 50% and now it is a guideline.
Low input permanent pasture has nothing to do with the commonage issue.
There is confusion about that.
A question, please, Deputy.
Some farmers are finishing out their current environmental schemes under AEOS, for example. Many farmers delayed their applications until tranche two because they had to divide up parcels. Entire parcels had to be entered into certain measures, for example, the low input permanent pasture measure.
I thank the Deputy. I call the Minister.
Now, when they come to apply, without any notice the Minister has done away with it, which means that many of them will only be able to achieve a €3,000 payment rather than the €5,000 they had been expecting.
I will come back to the Deputy.
The Deputy is assuming that the low input permanent pasture is the only option available to them, which, of course, it is not. They have many options available to them and they need to look at the list in terms of what suits their farming structures and apply them. The Deputy said that many commonage farmers were confused and therefore waited for the second tranche. Low input permanent pasture has nothing to do with that.
It has, of course.
They will be coming under a commonage GLAS plan if they are commonage farmers.
As we are spending EU money - a lot of it - as well as Exchequer money, we have an obligation to ensure that we set targets at the start of the scheme outlining what we want done for the money. If in the first tranche we are getting a significant amount of one measure done and not much in the other areas, we need to try to rebalance. The farming organisations have strongly welcomed the changes making it easier to get into the scheme for farmers in an SAC or if they have rare birds, for example, a hen harrier. It is now easier for those in that category to get into GLAS and increase their payments.
I thank the Minister.
We have had to change it accordingly. The provisions within the scheme were always there for that and people knew it.
The Minister did not have to change it accordingly; it was a choice he made. He could have left it alone as it was but he decided not to pursue that option.
That is not true. The Deputy does not understand how the Commission works.
Deputy McConalogue, please.
The Minister said that even though the quota for hedgerows was met, his main reason for discontinuing that was the availability of hedgerow plants and that he might review that in tranche three. However, he is now saying that because the low input permanent pasture has met the quota, he is obliged to change it. The reality is that the Minister has a choice in this. Many farmers do not have other options which might be available to them given the circumstances of their individual farms. Many of them depended on the low input permanent pasture option. Many were also depending on the hedgerow option and because the Minister has now without notice removed that, many of those farmers-----
There is notice. The scheme is not open yet.
Many of those farmers because of the particular circumstances on their farms will now only be able to achieve a maximum payment of just under €3,000 rather than the €5,000.
I thank the Deputy.
This is not a measure the Minister had to take and it will have a radical impact on many farm incomes, particularly smaller farm incomes. Income of €2,000 is not easily earned.
I thank the Deputy.
In one fell swoop, the Minister is undermining a scheme for which it was already difficult for many farmers to qualify. He is significantly undermining farmers' capacity to gain income from this, which might help keep many of them farming on a full-time basis and making their farms viable.
I thank the Deputy. I call the Minister.
I know the Minister plans to announce this next week.
Deputy-----
In the meantime, I ask him to revisit it and take into consideration the severe impact this will have on many farms in County Donegal and many other parts of the country.
I call on the Minister to conclude. We are way over time.
This is about every county. I know the Deputy is only interested in one county. It is about a scheme that makes sense across farming in Ireland.
First, there is notice; it is not open yet for tranche two. It will be opening next week. We are talking about it because there is notice. The Deputy should stop this nonsense about saying there is no notice.
A week's notice is not much notice.
Please-----
I am the one who has to stand over an examination of where we spend money, where we are getting value for money, how we spend money and justifying that through audit systems to the Commission. That is the way this works. This is a rural environmental scheme that is worth over €1 billion to farmers, and most of the money comes from the European exchequer. I am the one who has to make sure it is spent appropriately, otherwise we will be paying disallowances. This is not-----
What is wrong with allowing farmers to continue with-----
This is about supporting farm incomes, but it is also about getting environmental outcomes. I do not accept that farmers do not have alternatives. I think, quite frankly, that the Deputy is taking the lazy option, in terms of what he is saying.
The Minister does not understand the situation facing a lot of farms.
We are trying to offer every farmer options in terms of GLAS, but we are also trying to ensure that we get appropriate value for money in terms of environmental outcomes. The tranches will change slightly to make sure that we continue to deliver the correct outcomes. That is all that is happening. There is still an option for low-income permanent pasture. The average application for that is just over 7 ha, and we are now making it 5 ha. It is a slight adjustment and farmers should be able to adjust to that.
