The first phase of the new Farm Business Improvement Scheme is set to be open for applications by the end of October, members of the Stormont Agricultura and Rural Development Committee have been told this week.

DARD officials told the committee that this will be a major part of the £623 million Rural Development Programme. The first phase of the scheme will be the setting up of business development groups where farmers will learn about business,benchmarking and learn other business skills about their farm.

Many of the practical sides of the scheme will be hosted by farmers within the groups, rather than at CAFRE campuses.

This will be followed by a scheme offering farm family key skills.

A new forestry scheme for tree planting will open later this year.

The capital grant scheme which will include support for areas such as farm buildings, refurbishment of buildings, introduction of new technology, and mechanisation, will open next year.

Colette McMaster from DARD said it was a challenging time for the agricultural industry and they wanted farmers to learn more about their farm businesses.

A new Environment Farming Scheme to replace the agri-environment schemes which are coming to an end, will open next summer.

Questioned by Committee members, the DARD officials said the first tranche of the Farm Business Improvement Scheme will open until 1500 farmers had applied with a further tranche during the 2016/2017 year.

They have aimed for 3,000 farmers to become involved.

Committee members were frustrated at the DARD officials’ lack of detail in relation to the timetabling of the scheme. They said they could not give any advice to farmers at this stage as preparatory work was ongoing.

The business development groups will include items such as benchmarking, knowledge transfer and innovation technology and how they could be adapted to individual farms.

“We want farmers to work co-operatively,” said one of the officials.

With the new EFS being launched next summer, farmers participating in the Agri-Environment Schemes will be becoming fewer as the agreements come to an end.

An official said that 10,000 farmers will soon reduce to 6,000 and then drop off significantly in 2017. The new scheme will open in 2016 but no agreements are expected to be signed until 2017.

It was a busy day on Tuesday for the Stormont committee. They also heard from AFBI about how they are coping with major reductions in income which has resulted in around 140 job losses within the research sector.

Director, Seamus Kennedy said they had decided to look for more external funding and at present, had £300,000 increased external funding than during the same time last year. He said as a result of the cutbacks, they have had to work smarter and look to more international collaborative projects.

“There are opportunities and we have to be positive but it will take time to grow again.

Answering a question about the future of the Omagh veterinary laboratory which has been saved in the cuts, Seamus Kennedy said it had been updated in the past 10 years and was a modern facility which will continue to offer animal health services to farmers in the west of the Province. However some services would be centralised at Stormont.