The Irish Farmers Association today put forward an alternative strategy in its pre-Budget submission which would see the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry achieve savings of €184 million in its spending next year, €138 million in 2011 and €117 million in 2012.
The savings, it said, would allow funding for vital farm schemes to continue if cuts were made to the Department's administration costs and efficiency savings.
It said these savings would include cuts in administration at the Department itself and in semi-state agencies worth €71 million, savings in research expenditure of €14 million and €165 million in programme savings on the pork dioxin fund of €165 million and the Farm Waste Management scheme of €220 million.
It said the savings would be achieved by reducing inspections on farms by Department officials, the use of trained technicians for meat inspection and extending the time for a bovine TB test to 18 months for animals going directly to slaughter.
The organisation said it was totally opposed to a carbon tax as it would render the sector uncompetitive unless a similar tax was introduced on its international competitors.