replacement reps

tedandbetty

has any one examined the replacement reps scheme?

what do they think?

is it worth joining?

reilig

We have 25 acres around the house that we bought a few years ago and put in my wife's name and activated the herd number that was with it. Up to now, it hasn't been worth our while going into REPS with this parcel of land as the maximum we would get on it would be about €2000 and the planner's fees would be a big chunk of that. We also had no proper wintering facilities linked to this land but the last FWMS grants took care of that.

I think we have potential to push close to the €5000, even though we only have 25 acres. (I know its flawed, but we're going to make the most out of it.) Measures like the orchard are handy enough. There are also a few acres of bogland that has been very wet over the last 3 summers and we haven't been able to do anything with them, so they might make a good area for the Wild bird cover measure. The payments for the drinking troughs can only be a positive step. We have hedges suitable for copicing and a few fields that need new hedgerows.

All in all, the scheme suits our small parcel of land. But I doubt if it will suit many medium to large farmers. Thank god the rest of the land is in REPS 4.
personally I think its a Bull**** scheme, just a way of getting money spent. It won't benefit the environment very much. I can't really see a lot of farmers who were in REPS 3 taking it up.

tedandbetty

sounds like that it will really suit your operation,
like your self we do not any great quantity of land and i hope to make the best of whats there.

mind if i ask where did you get the full details of the schecme?
i only read the part on the jounnal.

reilig

tedandbetty wrote: »

sounds like that it will really suit your operation,
like your self we do not any great quantity of land and i hope to make the best of whats there.

mind if i ask where did you get the full details of the schecme?
i only read the part on the jounnal.

I only read the part on the journal too. It gave all the measures last week.

mossfort

from what i read in the journal this new scheme is a complete wasre of time.
for the arable margin you would get 23c per linear meter for a 3m margin all around your field which is a joke because it would pay you better to sow it.
the grassland habitat margin is another joke because you have to fence off a 2.5m margin all around your field and you will get 8 euros per linear meter and have to pay for fencing materials out of that which it wouldnt even cover the cost of.
and if you leave a 30m margin fenced off from a watercourse you will get 2.70 euro per meter per year . 30m meters is a lot of ground.and you have to buy the materials and do all the work before you get any payment which you could be waiting a very long time for.
the whole thing is like something thought up by an taisce.

agcons

What was on the journal is all the detail thats available so far. Rumour is that it may be launched next week, still awaiting final EU approval. Completely different scheme to REPS, basically compensating for works to be undertaken, will require a lot of expenditure/labour to get anywhere near the 5K for most farmers.

reilig

I agree with you both Mossford and Agcons. People will have to think hard before they go into the scheme. However, I do not see this scheme as a way of earning extra income. Any REPS money that I got in the last 10 years was always invested back into the farm through fences, hedges, sheds etc. This scheme enforces investment into the farm so if you intend making a profit from the scheme, there will be no point in joining.

Something tells me that all the REPS schemes and this scheme are only preparing us for what is to come after 2013. When the Single Payments are almost reduced to a pittance, the Govt and the EU will be able to turn to us and say that they gave us loads of money through the REPS and FWMS schemes to improve our land and facilities in order to bring them up to a level where they could be profitable and allow us to live without Direct Payment support.

johngalway

I won't be joining it, based on the measures outlined on the IFJ, all I will get out of it is extra work, no extra € and possibly extra bills.

No thanks.

wardy1

Would anyone have the link to the article in ifj as haven't been able to find thanks

Ms. Ka

http://www.farmersjournal.ie/2010/0306/farmmanagement/features/feature_two.shtml

the website is not user friendly!

agcons

http://www.agriconsultants.com/Index.php?Page=AEOS
We have the most recent draft of the payments rates and also the terms&conditions posted on the above link. They were given to the farm organisations a couple of days ago, still being negotiated but at most only very minor changes expected.

wardy1

Thanks for those links folks

JohnBoy

http://www.agriconsultants.com/Index.php?Page=TermsandConditions(Draft)

8. Application Procedure

<SPAN style="mso

what happened the rest of the terms and conditions?

agcons

JohnBoy wrote: »

http://www.agriconsultants.com/Index.php?Page=TermsandConditions(Draft)



what happened the rest of the terms and conditions?

Thanks for spotting that JohnBoy, should be all there now. Latest news from inside the Dept is the scheme should be officially launched late next week or early the following week. Very negative feed back from farmers so far.

Pharaoh1

The Journal had a bit more on it yesterday.
On first look the various payments are pretty miserable.

I can't understand that there is not more comment/anger from those larger farmers who will go from 10k euro to zero (or close to zero)

The only measure for which payment seems to be increased is wild bird cover. I planted 1 ha of Linnet for REPS3 and I would be sorely tempted to do 5ha to collect close on 5k euro.
I reckon the net profit per HA on this stuff would be more than 700 euro and you just have to sow it and close the gate. Dont see beef production coming close to that with a lot more work.
It is kind of negative farming I know and it can get a bit weedy but at least you are sure of the cash.

johngalway

Pharaoh1 wrote: »

I can't understand that there is not more comment/anger from those larger farmers who will go from 10k euro to zero (or close to zero)

I went from €11k+ to €0. All you'll be met with is "There's no money, what would you like us to do?". Personally, and it'll win me no favour, I'd have liked the original scheme to have been kept running in disadvantaged areas. SAC, NHA, SPA, I'm an acronym away from madness. Over 60% of Connemara is designated, now the carrot is gone but the schtick remains.

There's also an amount of "I'm alright Jack" because of different join dates for different farmers. Second cousin of my Dads got into REPS 4 just before it closed, lucky b......

RuralNetwork

Details of the new Agri-Environment Options Scheme (AEOS) have just been announced http://www.nrn.ie/environment-countryside/2010/03/details-of-agri-environment-options-scheme-announced/

agcons

Its all up on the Dept of Ag site now, including details of information meetings http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/farmerschemespayments/ruralenvironmentprotectionschemereps/repsandaeosschemes/aeosscheme/

Birdnuts

I would agree that this scheme is a warm up for the scrapping of the CAP in 2013 - the harsh reality of the unviablity of the vast majority of traditional commercial farming/family farms in Ireland thanx to Globislisation, the Tescos of this world, the failure of Teagasc, Dept of Agriculture to move with the times as regards customer preferences(failure to encourage organic farming, diversification, niche markets etc.) will come sharply into view post 2013. This scheme basically is saying to the majority of Irish farmers the less conventional farming you do the more money you will get - the process that started back in 92' with the McSharry reforms dealing with the likes of butter/beef mountains and other uneconomic activities like hill sheep farming will be completed in the coming years - whether one likes it or not, this is the new reality.