Press Room

Macra na Feirme national president Colm Markey has welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mary Coughlan, that the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme will be extended to cover the growing of willow and miscanthus.

Mr Markey said that Macra had highlighted the anomaly in the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme (REPS) that discouraged the growing of energy crops as farmers lost their REPS payments on land that was planted with energy crops. The young farmer organisation had sought a change to this situation in their pre-Budget submission last November.

Under the European Directive on the promotion of the use of biofuels, member states are recommended to substitute a minimum of 2% by 2005 and 5.75% by 2010 of transport and heating fuels with biofuels and other alternative fuels.

'The introduction of planting grants, a national payment and an adjusted REPS payment are measures that will encourage farmers to plant these crops,' Mr Markey.

'However a further incentive to encourage the growing of energy crops would be the payment of the Area Based compensatory allowance per hectare of EUR88.88. Macra believe both the compensatory allowance payment and the energy payment should be paid to farmers,' he said.

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