CAP proposal will downgrade food production, says IFA

Irish Examiner

3 days ago

Farming groups in Ireland and across Europe have criticised EU plans to overhaul the Common Agricultural Payment (CAP) system under new reforms, saying the key farm payment was being downgraded.
Under new budget proposals, Brussels is set to propose capping the EU subsidies a single farmer can receive each year, in an attempt to redistribute the bloc's massive farming subsidies in favour of smaller businesses.
The proposal would merge the CAP's current two-pillar structure into one fund.
CAP, today is worth around €387bn, or a third of the bloc's entire budget.
The commission proposal would attempt to redistribute more subsidies to smaller farmers by capping at €100,000 per year the area-based income support they can receive, the draft said.
It would also progressively reduce the amount paid out per hectare for those receiving the most.
For example, farmers receiving area-based income support above €20,000 per year would have their subsidies above this level cut by 25%, payments above €50,000 per year would be cut by 50%, and payments above €75,000 by 75%, the draft said.
Speaking from Brussels, Francie Gorman, president of the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) said what is emerging about how farming will be funded from 2027 is very concerning.
'It is clear that the EU Commission is downgrading the importance of the CAP and food production to allow for greater spending elsewhere,' he said.
'The CAP is being turned into an environmental and social policy. Support for farmers who are producing the most food is being consistently reduced.
"The commission seem more interested in finding ways to cut payments to individual farmers rather than support them,' he said.
'At a time when Ireland is a net contributor to the overall EU budget, this level of investment in every parish takes on even more significance.
"CAP has been the cornerstone of the multi-billion export sector that underpins thousands of jobs in regions far from the urban centres,' he said.
President of the ICMSA, Denis Drennan said the 'reforms' were actually just a speeded-up timetable for the EU's withdrawal of direct supports to farming and primary food production.
'Farmers are going to suffer losses under these proposals and that is indisputable fact,' he said.
He said the only absolute certainty arising out of the announcements was that high standard and sustainable food production within the EU would fall and that food prices across the EU would rise as farmers will have to seek more from the marketplace to replace the reduced supports.
Mr Drennan said it was absolutely incumbent on the EU Commission to spell out exactly the implications for a typical Irish dairy or livestock farmer in terms of the financial loss under its proposals and how they expect those farmers to make a living based on the commission proposals.
This is not the first time Brussels has attempted to cap subsidies, to limit payouts to big landowners and agro-industrial firms.
President of the ICMSA, Denis Drennan said it was absolutely incumbent on the EU Commission to spell out exactly the implications for a typical Irish dairy or livestock farmer in terms of the financial loss under its proposals. Picture: Dylan Vaughan
"In the previous CAP, roughly 80% of payments went to 20% of the beneficiaries.
Past proposals to do this were rejected by EU governments concerned about their farming industries. EU countries and the European Parliament must approve the new budget for 2028-2034.
The policy would set overarching EU-wide green targets that farmers must meet to receive subsidies, while obliging countries to set additional, locally-tailored conditions.
The minister for agriculture, food and the marine, Martin Heydon said the complex legislative proposals will need detailed consideration.
'The commission is proposing major changes in structure that we will now study in detail in order to better understand the impact on Ireland,' he said.
'Today's publication is just the beginning of a protracted process.
"Member states will, through the Council of Ministers, begin the process of agreeing a general approach to the commission's proposals, before engaging in line-by-line negotiations with the EU Parliament and the EU Commission.'
Additional reporting Reuters