Latest news with #GAECs
Agriland
21-05-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Department called on to ‘maximise' CAP simplification measures
While debate is ongoing on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2027, there are also calls for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to maximise the simplification of the current CAP. Last week, the European Commission announced a package of measures to simplify the current CAP, with the stated aim of cutting down on bureaucracy for farmers and member states. The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) is calling on the department to take full availability of the flexibility on offer from the commission, and to 'learn from the lessons of the past'. IFA president Francie Gorman said: 'There are a series of proposals within this package…that we need to secure to reduce some of the hardship and complexity for farmers. One of the areas where flexibility has been provided is in the area of the Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAECs), including GAEC 2, which is the conditionality standard related to protection of peatlands and wetlands. The IFA had called for GAEC 2 to be removed from conditionality. Gorman said: 'We wanted an incentivised approach taken, with greater credit afforded to existing on-farm action, national and EU legislation, and agri-environment scheme requirements toward the protection of peatlands and wetlands.' He added: 'With the simplification process, while the GAEC standard remains, opportunity [and] flexibility is now provided to members states to satisfy GAEC 2 requirements. 'This will be without the need for additional practices for farmers, and for an incentivised approach, by removing baseline requirements from eco-schemes [and] agri-environmental schemes, to compensate beneficiaries for any cost [or] lost productivity associated with its compliance. 'It is imperative that the department continue to push for GAEC 2 to be removed. In addition, they should swiftly introduce a dedicated…intervention to compensate farmers for the costs incurred and income foregone in relation to implementing some or all of the GAEC 2 requirements, and investigate if the same can be replicated for those on designated lands, given false promises of the past,' the IFA president said. Gorman noted that the measures announced by the commission last week represent the second 'corrective package' from the commission on CAP in just over a year. 'This fact should serve as a lesson for the future and shape our discussions. Farmers need policies that are coherent, consistent, meaningful, and implementable, with greater farmer input throughout, but particularly in design stage. 'These principles must apply not only within the CAP but across wider and all EU policies that impact agriculture.' However, Gorman added: 'Future CAP simplification efforts must not undermine the common nature of the CAP or open the door to uncontrolled renationalisation. That would mark the end of CAP as we know it.' CAP simplification Gorman's views on GAEC 2 are shared by Irish MEP Michael McNamara, who has called on the government here to 'formally exclude' GAEC 2 from the baseline conditions of eco-schemes and agri-environment commitments. 'This change gives the government flexibility to exclude GAEC 2 and fairly compensate farmers managing wetlands and peatlands, who often face higher costs and income loss,' McNamara said. The independent TD added: 'The commission allowing member states to remove the measure from the baseline will mean less regulatory pressure on farmers managing these lands, while making CAP payments more accessible.' 'This change is a direct result of persistent pressure from farmers and their representatives across Europe. The Irish government must now respond quickly and adjust our CAP implementation to make use of this flexibility,' McNamara said.
Agriland
23-04-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Potential payment under GAEC 2 as part of CAP simplification
Paying farmers for meeting requirements under the controversial good agricultural and environmental condition (GAEC) 2 may form part of a further upcoming simplification of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). GAEC 2 – one of several GAEC rules that govern conditionality for payments under CAP – is described as a baseline requirement for the protection of carbon-rich soils, including peatlands and wetlands. A leaked internal European Commission document, seen by Agriland, is recommending to allow possible payments for 'the practices, considered currently baseline' under GAEC 2. The recommendation is part of a list of measures that will be considered as part of a simplification package for CAP. Which measures will form part of the final simplification package remain to be seen. The document, which is understood to have been written up by the commission's Directorate-General of Agriculture (DG AGRI), says: 'Due to [GAEC 2's] sensitivity, level of contribution to the [greenhouse gas] emissions, aspects of stability, and timing of implementation, a careful consideration is needed in relation to possible changes. 'Following…requests, AGRI prepared a set of options, including their pros and cons, and recommending, if need be, to allow possible payments for the practices, considered currently as 'baseline',' the document adds. The document also includes a possible measure to adjust the relevant legal text by specifying that, when implementing GAEC 2, member states, when defining standards, may relay on their national legislation that is protecting peatlands and wetlands, and allow possible payments of those actions. Elsewhere, the document also includes a measure to allow member states to ensure that a farmer is not subject to an 'on-the-spot' control for CAP interventions more than once in a calendar year. However, the document also states that this proposed change risks 'weakening the governance systems, in particular, deterrent effect of controls'. 'It is also very likely that it will be impossible to properly control farms with multiple payments linked to several eligibility conditions, while small farms can face increased controls,' the document added. In the case of young farmers, the document includes a measure to allow investments to be financed that bring farms up to 'legal standards'. Other measures outlined in the commission document include: Derogation for organic farmers from GAECs 1,3,4,5 and 6; Allowing payments per livestock unit for environmental, climate and organic farming commitments; Flexibilities on GAEC 1 (maintenance of permanent grasslands); Applying GAEC 4 (buffer strips along water courses) along water courses as defined by member states under the Water Framework Directive; Removal of two environment/climate related articles from the CAP strategic plan regulation; Flexibility on risk management tools for calculation of losses for certain groups of farmers or areas, and allowing for selection of farmers based on situation or needs; Allowing member states to create a crisis intervention for natural disaster emergencies with up to 2% of the national CAP envelope; A simplified payment scheme for 'small farmers' not otherwise receiving CAP Pillar I funding, and exempting them from conditionality while allowing them access to the Pillar I eco-scheme; A new lump sum payment of €50,000 for the business development of 'small farms'; Additional financial incentive to producer organisations in the fruit and vegetable sector; Changes to financial instruments, including allowing eligibility of VAT in financial instruments; Further use of digital tools; Simplifying the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS), further reducing on-the-spot controls; Providing further flexibility to member states on conditionality controls, also with the aim of reducing on-the-spot controls. MEP welcomes CAP simplification Although the CAP simplification package is yet to be finalised and announced, an Irish MEP has welcomed the slate of possible simplification measures. Midlands–North-West MEP Ciaran Mullooly said the measures outlined are 'a step in the right direction for farmers across Ireland and Europe'. 'I am personally pleased with the commission's proposals, particularly the recognition that farmers impacted by GAEC 2 should be eligible for payments based on income forgone. This principle, that farmers deserve fair compensation for complying with environmental conditions, was a key issue in my discussions with the commission,' Mullooly said. He also drew attention to two further elements of the proposals – the reduction in on-farm inspections and increased support for new-generation farmers. 'These changes represent meaningful steps to reduce unnecessary burdens and ensure generational renewal in farming, something that's vital for the long-term sustainability of rural communities,' Mullooly said. 'It's clear that the protests by Irish and European farmers during last [year's] 'summer of discontent' are beginning to pay off. The voices of farmers are finally being heard,' he added.
