The European Commission has decided to allow Irish farmers to use animal feed grown on set-aside land before the normal deadline in recognition of the hot and dry summer.
Normally, farmers would have to wait until August 31st to harvest fodder grown on set-aside, even for their own use, but the recent heatwave has meant that animal feed growing on these areas would dry before it could be used.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mariann Fischer Boel, said the commission had decided it was not reasonable to allow useable feed to got to waste and agreed to be flexible in assisting farmers in "difficult conditions".