Latest news with #GoodAgriculturalandEnvironmentalConditions
Agriland
26-05-2025
- Business
- Agriland
Heydon downplays GAEC 2 CAP flexibility for Irish farmers
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon has moved to downplay the importance to Irish farmers of the European Commission's decision to provide flexibility around the Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAEC), specifically GAEC 2. Minister Heydon told Agriland that the financial implication of the standard, which may impact farmers in some member states, 'isn't the case in Ireland'. GAEC 2 is the conditionality standard of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) related to the protection of peatlands and wetlands. It formally entered into force in early May. Earlier this month, the commission announced a raft of measures to simplify the current 2023-2027 CAP, including an allowance for member states to include disadvantages to farmers arising from the conditionality standard to be incorporated into calculations for payments for eco-schemes and agri-environmental measures. However, the minister had repeatedly said that the enforcement of GAEC 2 in Ireland will not change how Irish farmers farm day-to-day. For that reason, he indicated, the flexibility around the conditionality standard would not necessarily be of benefit to Irish farmers. He told Agriland: 'Whether [the GAEC 2 flexibility] will make a material difference to farmers' day-to-day lives, I'm not convinced of that. '[There] may be some flexibility around eco-schemes…in other countries where there's a financial implication. That isn't the case in Ireland. 'Farmers continue to be able to farm as they have done on a day-to-day basis under GAEC 2, so letters that those farmers received…still stand. Farmers don't have anything to fear from GAEC 2. It does not change their day-to-day activity,' Minister Heydon said. 'There won't be a raft of farmers who are impacted or fined as a result of any of the outcomes of GAEC 2,' he added. The minister expressed similar sentiments in response to a parliamentary question from Labour Party TD Robert O'Donoghue, who asked the minister to outline his position on the matter. The minister told O'Donoghue: 'It is important to note two points regarding the possibility of providing specific support measures under the [CAP Strategic Plan] for GAEC 2 requirements. First, Ireland's CAP strategic plan funding is already fully committed under the existing schemes and no new funding is available as part of the simplification proposals. 'Second, the GAEC 2 standard for Ireland, as recently introduced, is based on existing national legislation and usual farming practices,' he added.
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.
