‘Old young’ farmers to qualify for EU reserve

AGRICULTURE Minister Simon Coveney has asked the European Commission to allow a category of applicants known as the ‘old young farmers’ apply for allocations from the National Reserve in relation to entitlements.

The move by Minister Coveney is to clear an anomaly whereby many farmers under the age of 40, would not qualify for their National Reserve top-ups as they already had been farming for five years.

The gap, led to a meeting being held in Athlone earlier this month by a group calling themselves the ‘Forgotten Farmers’, who had highlighted the ‘unfairness’ of the new system.

This week, three Galway Government TDs – Sean Kyne, Paul Connaughton and Brian Walsh – said that the issue had now been addressed by Minister Coveney who was hoping for a positive response to the issue from the EU Commission.

Deputy Connaughton said that the decision to allow ‘old young farmers’ access to the National Reserve, who established holdings between 2008 and 2010 access to entitlements, was a welcome one and a just recognition of the work and investment that these trained farmers put into establishing their farm holdings.

“The decision to facilitate this cohort of farmers is a common sense measure and I hope many young farmers can be facilitated when they submit applications to the National Reserve for additional entitlements,” said Deputy Connaughton.

Deputy Kyne said that group of ‘old young farmers’ should now be classed as a group ‘suffering a specific disadvantage’, bringing to an end the anomaly that ruled them out of their special supports.

“The two schemes aim to encourage and facilitate the transfer of agricultural holdings to young trained farmers by off-setting the costs involved in establishing a holding for the first time.

“These ‘Old Young farmers’ should qualify for these schemes under all other conditions but the rules disadvantaged those farmers who might have inherited a family farm when they were very young or any farmers under 40 who have been farming for five years or more,” said Deputy Kyne.

Deputy Brian Walsh said that the definition of a young farmer, in its current format, was completely unfair as it excluded many young and progressive farmers from receiving capital investment for their farms.

“The Young Farmers Scheme provided financial assistance to young farmers. However it defines a young farmer as someone under-40 who is setting up an agricultural holding for the first time, or who has set up such a holding during the five years preceding the first submission of the Basic Payment Scheme application,” said Deputy Walsh.

He said that this definition had excluded numerous young men and women across the country who were outside the five year rule through no fault of their own.

Deputy Walsh said that he hoped that the submission made by the Dept. of Agriculture on the issue early last week should now help to resolve the matter.