Teagasc subscription

theroad

Our annual sub for Teagasc in 2008 was €314, in 2009 it went up to €350 (an 11% increase in the one of the worst farming years on record) and now they have just sent a bill for €284 for the next six months. That's an annual charge of €568, or a 62% increase on last year.

Now I think Teagasc do a good job by and large, and I have no complaints with our adviser, etc. But this is a bit daft. The letter came out of the blue with no explanation. Does anyone know the background to this? Is there an extra charge if you're in the Dairy Efficiency Programme? (we are.)

whelan1

are you in reps ?

Tora Bora

27 years farming in my own name. Never once paid one penny to Teagasc or IFA, or any other quango for that matter. Can't say I feel any worse off for being deprived of the benefits of the untold wisdom of these organisations.

theroad

No reps, just a discussion group (which I find quite useful).

dar31

if it is one of the discussion groups for the grant, there is a facilitator fee, not sure how much though

LostCovey

I have never paid them anything either. What do you get for your €568?

LostCovey

leg wax

they always said i had to make cut backs ,and they were the first one.

Sam Kade

I gave up on them years ago, when they started telling dairy farmers in my area to get out of dairying. The IFA also got the chop.

whelan1

fmp - fresh milk producers - will be the next to go off my list , useless, haven.t had a meeting in my area for 3 years , even when the milk prices where so bad last year

blue5000

Sounds expensive, the discussion group fee is the only thing worth hanging onto. The rest of the time teagasc are just flogging 2nd hand info. I stopped 10 yrs ago.

pakalasa

leg wax wrote: »

they always said i had to make cut backs ,and they were the first one.

reilig

theroad wrote: »

Our annual sub for Teagasc in 2008 was €314, in 2009 it went up to €350 (an 11% increase in the one of the worst farming years on record) and now they have just sent a bill for €284 for the next six months. That's an annual charge of €568, or a 62% increase on last year.

Now I think Teagasc do a good job by and large, and I have no complaints with our adviser, etc. But this is a bit daft. The letter came out of the blue with no explanation. Does anyone know the background to this? Is there an extra charge if you're in the Dairy Efficiency Programme? (we are.)

jasus, that sounds a bit off the wall. I use teagasc and have always found my local office to be reasonable. I claim the max reps payment and am involved in a suckler discussion group that I feel I get a lot out of. Planner visits at least once a year and is always on hand for form filling or map adjustments or just general advice. He's a great lad - always working ahead of himself and having things spot on. Thanks to him I got into REPS 4 last year when a lot of others didn't.
My Teagasc bill for last year was €804. Pretty keen I thought.

Sam Kade

Before I gave up on them they had an opportunities for farmers program that I attended. We were told that it was very successful with farmers up the country. They probably told farmers up the country that it was very successful with farmers down the country. Anyway it was unknown what we could do to make extra income and the people that they were going to put us in touch with. A month later and no word from them so I rang my advisor and asked him why there was no contact he said I'll get them to contact you soon, that was 6 years ago :rolleyes: It more than likely was a way to use up their Government funds and give them some thing to keep them occupied :rolleyes:

theroad

LostCovey wrote: »

I have never paid them anything either. What do you get for your €568?

LostCovey

Nothing as I haven't paid it yet. I'd say I get about €300-worth of advice from Teagasc in a year. The discussion group is worth that on its own anyway. I think the extra charge is for the dairy efficiency thingy.