Hill farmers to launch new farming organisation in Mayo

Hill farmers to launch new farming organisation in Mayo

Anton McNulty

HILL and commonage farmers in Mayo are being asked to support a new farming organisation if they want their voice heard at the negotiation table in the future.
The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association are to hold their Mayo launch in the Castlecourt Hotel, in Westport on Monday, March 30 with a large crowd expected to attend. The new farming organisation has already had successful launches in Donegal and Galway while the Sligo launch took place last night.
Mayo has the largest number of hill and commonage farmers in Ireland and a crowd of between 300 and 400 people are expected to attend the launch. John Moran, the Mayo representative of the INHFA told The Mayo News said they set up the organisation at the behest of the small farmers and called on them to come out and support them.
“The farmers came out in numbers before with 1,700 at a meeting in Westport and that was the reason why we set up the group, to keep an eye out for them now and in the future. We were all members of the IFA and went to the IFA to get them to look after our problems and to be honest there was no support from them. People on the ground asked us to do something and that is the reason why we set up the organisation.
“If the people come out and support us and join us in big numbers the powers that be will have to listen to us and our concerns. The small farmers in rural Ireland will have a voice going forward. There will be a review of CAP in 2018 and we want to be around that table for those talks,” he said.
The main issues concerning small farmers at the moment are the implementation of the GLAS scheme and the issue of land eligibility, said Mr Moran.