IFA to Hold National Meeting on Policy Threat to Farming on Peat Soils

IFA will hold a national meeting on Thurs next (March 6th) at 8pm in the Hodson Bay Hotel in Athlone to discuss policy threats to farming on peat soils.

BISS conditionality, so-called ‘reduced intensity’ farming proposals and Nature Restoration Law requirements are posing a threat to the viability of farming on peat soils. 

The meeting will also hear an update on the campaign for an immediate ACRES payment from national funds.

Announcing the meeting, IFA Deputy President Alice Doyle said, “Firstly, farmers need to be fully informed about what is going on. Most of these issues are resulting from decisions made by the previous Government and the previous EU Commission. However, the new Government and Commission seem to be hellbent on implementing all of these measures, despite promises of simplification and reduced bureaucracy,” she said.

“These measures threaten to wipe out commercial farming and devalue land at the stroke of a pen,” she said.

The Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon has been invited to the meeting.

“We appreciate that the invitation to the Minister is at short notice, but it is not good enough that farmers are hearing plans for their land in the media and through press releases. The new Minister needs to come out and tell farmers what the Government plans actually are,” she said.