Macra national president Elaine Houlihan has welcomed Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue’s commitment this week in Dáil Éireann, to seek funding as part of this year’s annual budget, for a group of farmers known as the ‘forgotten farmers’.
The group of farmers lost out following the removal of young farmer supports under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), such as installation aid, due to cuts in public expenditure by the government following the last recession.
According to analysis approximately 3,500 farmers would meet the basic definition of forgotten farmer.
The Macra president said: “This is welcome news, however we have been here before; these forgotten farmers need a concrete guarantee of delivery from the minister.
“At our Macra annual conference a year and a half ago, the minister told members in attendance that the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine [DAFM] would shortly announce a scheme that will support farmers who are commonly referred to as the ‘forgotten farmers’.
“We welcome your further commitment minister, but this issue needs to be concluded successfully for all concerned in 2024.”
A proposal to support this particular group of farmers is part of Macra’s 2025 pre-budget submission.
The association has said that for the last decade or more Macra has been actively involved in discussion and has made “countless submissions” in relation to the this group of farmers.
“It is something that has been on our agenda as these once young farmers were neglected at the time,” the president said.
Macra wants every forgotten farmer to receive the nominal sum of supports that they have missed out on since 2008.
The organisation has also called for a clear funding commitment for the scheme and a mechanism for how forgotten farmers can access the funds.
Every effort must be made to ensure that all forgotten farmers are catered for under the new scheme.