GLAS balancing payments to begin this week
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, has announced today that over €25 million in GLAS balancing payments to over 42,000 farmers in the GLAS scheme will commence this week. The balancing payment represents the final 15% of the 2018 payment and completes the total payment for GLAS actions undertaken last year. This payment rate is 50% higher than last year in terms of applicants paid.
GLAS is the new agri-environment scheme, part of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020. GLAS achieves the objectives of Articles 28 and 30 of the Rural Development Regulation and ties in with the green vision for Irish agriculture as contained in Food Harvest 2020 and as promoted by Bord Bia in the Origin Green campaign.
The scheme is green as it preserves our traditional hay meadows and low-input pastures; low-carbon as it retains the carbon stocks in soil through margins, habitat preservation and practices such as minimum tillage; and, agri-environment as it promotes agricultural actions, which introduce or continue to apply agricultural production methods compatible with the protection of the environment, water quality, the landscape and its features, endangered species of flora and fauna and climate change mitigation.
Minister Creed said: "This will be a significant cashflow assistance to those farmers, particularly suckler farmers who are the majority of GLAS participants.
“This payment of over €42m brings to almost €600m the total payments made to date in respect of GLAS scheme. This comes on top of over 99% of all eligible GLAS participants already being fully up to date with their payments under the scheme. This closes out the payment for actions last year to these participants. Our priority now is to continue to make payments to other applicants as they become eligible and we will continue to make weekly payments”.
The minister also reminded that there are a small number of cases where GLAS 3 participants have not yet completed their GLAS Training. The minister encouraged these applicants to undertake the outstanding training required as quickly as possible. All GLAS 3 participants must complete the required training by 31 December 2019 to remain in the Scheme.