The IFA President Padraig Walshe said that timing factors in EU transfers have distorted the figures for the Department of Agriculture for the first 9 months and have led some commentators to imply that there will be an expenditure overrun.
In a comment on the Exchequer returns for the first 9 months of 2007, he said he expected expenditure by the Department of Agriculture for the full year to be in line with the allocation in the Book of Estimates.
Mr Walsh said because of the delay in getting the new structural and environmental schemes approved by Brussels, there is a delay in drawing down the EU co-financed element of these schemes.
However, this will be largely made up in the next three months.
The IFA leader said the main spending increase this year relates to the farm waste management scheme introduced to assist farmers to comply with the Nitrates Directive.
He said farmers themselves are in the process of making investments, net of grants, of about €1bn to meet environmental regulations and to modernise their holdings to prepare for the trend towards globalisation.
