“The EU’s landmark Farm to Fork Strategy will, in the not-too-distant future, be on our doorstep. It presents more questions than answers.”

That’s according to the Irish Farm Family Rights Group (IFRG).

“At this moment in time, nobody seems to have the answers. It seems to be a ‘wait and see’ approach,” a spokesperson said.

“Farmers themselves should voice their opinions and let the policy-makers in this country know whether or not the Farm to Fork Strategy will have a positive or negative impact on their farms.”

‘New schemes’

He added: “In light of the announcement by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar that there are plans for a new type of Rural Environmental Protection Scheme [REPS] in the Programme for Government, now is a good time for farmers to express their views on such schemes.

“To this end, the Irish Farm Family Rights Group has compiled a series of questions in a brief nine-minute survey.”

As reported previously on AgriLand (on June 18), €1.5 billion in revenue from carbon taxes will apparently be set aside to (partially) fund what is being described as a “flagship environmental scheme” over the course of the next 10 years.

‘Highly-popular’

The scheme is being modeled after the “highly-popular REPS programme”; it has been referred to as ‘REPS Mark II’. Funding is mooted to come from three sources – the aforementioned carbon taxes; exchequer funding from the state; and monies from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).