Setaside payments hit £7.9m

IRISH cereal farmers received £7.9 million last year for leaving cereal lands idle under the EU's setaside scheme to reduce production levels in Europe, the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Yates has said. Mr Yates said the scheme, which was introduced in 1993, made it is compulsory for farmers who grow more than 37 acres of cereals to put a percentage of their arable lands into setaside.