Noel Bardon

Farming organisations have warned that pulling one scheme after farmers have planned for payments and completed actions puts all other farm schemes on a slippery slope.

Many farms are operating at stocking rates which do not need to fall if they switched to organics, a top Department of Agriculture official said.

Straw Incorporation Measure payments will be needed to keep tillage farmers afloat, even if straw chopping is scrapped for 2024, the ICSA said.

The Minister for Agriculture has recognised the contribution of extensive farming to high nature areas when speaking at the INHFA AGM.

A joint IFA and IGGG statement has sought the intervention of Taoiseach Simon Harris in Minister McConalogue's plans to axe the straw chopping scheme for 2024.

The co-op has announced a slight price increase for suppliers' June milk.

Lower farmgate prices, depressed levels of production and high costs were the drivers in the reduction in farm incomes last year.

The move will optimise the use of resources deployed to food safety and veterinary controls, the Minister for Agriculture has said.

The interim statements have been calculated off existing excretion figures and not the ones proposed by the Department of Agriculture earlier this year.

There were a total of 93 small private water supplies that were found to breach legal E Coli limits last year.