The Minister for Agriculture and Food has welcomed a decision of the EU authorising farmers in Ireland affected by drought to use land declared as set-aside for animal feed purposes from 15 July.
The authorisation comes under the condition that the land is not used for lucrative purposes and, in particular, that no fodder produced on that set-aside land is sold.
Mary Coughlan explained that under the current rules governing the use of set-aside land, these areas set aside would otherwise be required to remain so until 31 August at the earliest.
