A farm organisation is calling for the suspension of Department of Agriculture on-farm inspections and Bord Bia audits.
ICSA president, Edmond Phelan, believes the action must be taken in view of the urgency of minimising the risk of spreading Covid-19.
“As the testing programme for Covid-19 is very limited at the moment, a farmer cannot be confident that an inspector is not infected, and an inspector cannot be confident that a farmer is not infected.”
“It must be obvious that inspectors moving from farm to farm and interacting closely with farmers whether it is in relation to signing reports or restraining stock breaches the whole principle of social distancing.”
“Moreover, the older age demographic means that farmers are a particularly vulnerable cohort of people in terms of Covid-19 impact.”
He said that the majority of inspections regarding land eligibility can be completed remotely and the Department can use the AIM system to monitor most of the risk areas.
“Regarding tag loss, farmers can demonstrate that they have ordered replacement tags.
Bord Bia audits
The farm lobby group believes there is a lot of scope for a desk-based audit to be done which could cover areas such as animal remedies, health and safety statement.
It is of the opinion that in light of the Covid-19 threat, six-month extensions should be granted to farmers who pass a desk-based exercise. “The Quality Assurance inspections are particularly unsustainable as they last for a few hours and involve a lot of interaction with the farmer, which is often carried out in the farmers’ kitchen.”
“It is clear that the very intrusive nature of a QA inspection cannot be consistent with the objectives of minimising social contact and it is urgent that this is faced up to by Bord Bia sooner rather than later.”
“In these unprecedented times, farmers are still working 24-hours-a-day, caring for their stock and producing food that will ultimately keep the country fed.”
Phelan said that farmers operating on the front line and must be supported in any way possible.
“Farmers are willing to work with the Department to ensure the highest standards are maintained, but we must do this in a way that protects and supports hard-working farm families.” the farm leader concluded.
