I see the Department of Agriculture launched a survey to figure out how many people are eligible for the Long Established Young Farmers scheme, more commonly known as forgotten farmers.

The Department was allocated €5m in the budget for this potential scheme and this will be its first key step.

Forgotten farmers are defined as farmers who were under 40 in 2015, had commenced farming prior to 2008, held no or low-value payment entitlements and were not eligible for young farmer supports under the CAP from 2015. The deadline to complete the survey is Friday 30 May.

There’s been so much talk about this scheme and no action in recent years, that I thought the scheme itself had been forgotten.