Latest news with #ICMSA
Agriland
3 days ago
- Business
- Agriland
‘Farmers are going to suffer losses' under proposed CAP changes
Farmers are 'going to suffer losses' under the European Commission's plans for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the next long term EU budget, according to the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA). The commission unveiled its plans for CAP as its proposals for the next Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028 to 2034 were detailed to the European Parliament's budget committee today (Wednesday, July 16). According to Denis Drennan, president of the ICMSA, the Commission's CAP plans represent a speeded-up timetable for the EU's withdrawal of direct supports to farming and primary food production. Drennan also believes that the European Commission's CAP plans have the potential to drive food prices up across the EU and drive down the 'high standard and sustainable food production within the EU. 'It's not even difficult to predict the disaster that will follow this announcement, it's just simple logic. 'As the direct supports for farmers fall, they will have to raise prices as they sell along the chain with a resulting impact at the point of sale to the consumer,' he added. CAP The president of the ICMSA also believes that questions have to be asked about the EU's ability 'to feed itself' if its CAP plans go ahead. 'Some people might think this is alarmist, but those very same people should take a close look at developments in EU agriculture, their view will certainly change when they do so,' Drennan added. He said although CAP had failed to pace with inflation, the impact of potential reductions to individual payments as a result of the commission's proposals would mean 'cuts will be piled on cuts'. 'We've had many promises from the Commission on CAP on support and simplification. 'None have been kept. Today's announcement simply underlines the slide into irrelevance. The EU can no longer even pretend to be an asset to farmers, it's an obstacle, a negative, that causes more problems than it provides solutions,' Drennan said. He is now calling on the Taoiseach to 'immediately signal Ireland's rejection' of the Commission's proposals and has urged Irish MEPS to do the same.
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
CAP proposal will downgrade food production, says IFA
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
Irish Examiner
4 days ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Farmers hold all the cards when it comes to beef
Beef processors have been forced to halt price pulling due to dwindling beef supplies. ICMSA Livestock Committee Chairperson, Michael O'Connell, has said some beef processors 'have sought to pull the wool over farmers' eyes' by quoting lower base prices for steers and heifers. Processors have been quoting base prices of €7 for steers and €7.10 for heifers; however, an additional 20-30c/kg is available for farmers. 'Processors should be ashamed to quote €7.00/kg base price for steers when they are giving up to €6.70c/kg flat for P and O grade Friesian cull cows. That leaves a prime underage P+3 Friesian steer at the same nominal value as a P grade cow,' said Mr O'Connell. Mr O'Connell went on to say that for the past 10 days, processors have felt the pressure on supply due to the end of shed-finished cattle and a slow start to cattle coming from grass. 'We have seen in the past month or so, kill plans being reduced as a means of controlling price and supply, but this can't last forever, and the demand for Irish beef across Europe is huge,' cautioned Mr O'Connell. 'I'm sure factories are praying that the 'calendar beef farming' 30-month age limit will convince farmers with January and February 2023-born cattle to consider slaughtering these shortly. But the weather is favourable and cattle are thriving well - there is no pressure to kill them… They'd be much better off just acknowledging the reality that we all see and go out and buy the cattle from farmers as opposed to going into the farmers' yards and looking foolish by offering obviously below-par prices,' said Mr O'Connell. Noting that the numbers of cattle across Europe are at an all-time low, Mr O'Connell stated that Irish live exports have never been as strong due to our Bluetongue-free status. 'We are sure that the volumes of 2023 and 2024 born cattle leaving the country have added to the pressures on processors. Demand for Irish cattle is off the charts and is going to continue with predictions of the EU herd falling by a further 5 to 7% this year,' Mr O'Connell said. The Livestock committee Chair also called for the 'big players' in Irish processing to recognise the value of Irish beef and live exports, with European counterparts able to recognise the high environmental and legislative standards Irish beef meets. 'For the last fortnight, reality reasserted itself, and we see the factories getting nervous about the numbers and unable to pull prices further. The pressure is on them; the old tricks and ruses aren't working because the facts are just overriding them. ICMSA's advice is: keep possession and only sell when they are receiving the true value of the cattle,' suggested Mr O'Connell. Mr O'Connell invites farmers to study their options with finished cattle. He says that loyalty to processors should be gone following the price cuts of the last few weeks, and farmers should not take the first price offered to them by agents. 'The pressure is off farmers with the improvement in the weather; cattle are content and thriving, and the majority of silage has been cut. By contrast, the pressure on processors has increased and we're telling farmers to stand their ground on beef prices in the coming weeks,' concluded Mr O'Connell.
Irish Times
7 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Retailers deny price gouging as farmers warn high prices are the new normal
The surge in food prices in recent years is the 'new normal' and a consequence of more sustainable farming practices and tighter regulation rather than a temporary aberration, a leading farming group has warned. And retailers have insisted they are not profiteering at the expense of Irish consumers, their margins modest and grocery inflation in the State low by European standards. Data published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Thursday points to a year-on-year price increase across the food and non-alcoholic drink sector of 4.6 per cent. However, in some areas, including meat and dairy, the price hikes are in double digits. According to the CSO, butter, which sells for around €3.99 a pound for own store brands and €5.49 for Kerrygold, is €1.10 more expensive than this time last year. READ MORE Other dairy basics have also recorded substantial increases, with shoppers paying, on average, 95 cent a kilo more for cheddar cheese and 27 cent more for a litre of milk. [ Price of grocery staples running well ahead of general inflation Opens in new window ] The latest increasers come on top three years of food inflation that have added in excess of €3,000 on to many households' annual bills, with no prospect of relief on the horizon. Denis Drennan of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) told The Irish Times that it was 'more than a little irritating to be listening to politicians expressing amazement and concern about the surge in food prices when those same politicians seemed to have no problem at all voting through measures often directly responsible for heaping up higher costs on the farmers and processors producing that food.' He said regulations that now 'completely set the context for farming cost money, and what's really irritating – certainly from ICMSA's view – is the implication that, somehow, the farmers should have absorbed the increased costs out of our income, out of our margin'. He warned that the increases consumers have faced in recent years are not 'any kind of 'price spike' or aberration' but were 'the new normal'. [ Irish people more concerned about cost of food than counterparts Opens in new window ] 'Getting the food of the mandated standard to the fridge of your local supermarket has a cost – economically and environmentally – and that cost has to be paid,' said Drennan. He pointed to what he described as 'a decade or more when consumers were allowed to believe in the fantasy that all the change and astronomical expense involved in transitioning to low-emissions farming and primary food production was going to happen from the supermarket fridge backwards to the farm without any change or cost to the consumer. That was just a fantasy, and we now see the consternation when consumers realise that, actually, everyone is going to have to pay more for the new system.' Drennan also pointed to data which suggests that previous generations 'spent more than twice what we are [spending] as a percentage of the average family's disposable income. Irish consumers are not overpaying now; the data suggests they've been underpaying for decades and are only now starting to get a glimpse of what their food really costs.' Arnold Dillion of Retail Ireland, the Ibec umbrella group that represents supermarkets, said margins in grocery retail were low, with recent price increases 'overwhelmingly due to cost increases further up the supply chain'. He said that despite an increase in inflationary pressures in some categories, 'Irish food inflation trends remains below the EU average', and he pointed to a 2023 report by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) which stated that the Irish grocery market 'remains highly competitive'. He suggested that the Irish market was 'highly competitive, profit margins are tight, and pricing decisions are primarily shaped by external cost pressures. The financial information in the public domain confirms that Irish grocery retailers are not earning abnormal profits, and are operating in full compliance with legal and regulatory standards.'
Agriland
01-07-2025
- Business
- Agriland
ICMSA calls for €1,000 student fee reduction to be retained
The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA) has called for a reduction of €1,000 in the student contribution fee to be retained in Budget 2026. The student contribution fee has been charged at a reduced rate for the last number of years and was originally announced in Budget 2023 as part a response to the escalating cost of living. The €1,000 reduction has been continued at each subsequent budget. However, according to the Citizens Information website, the maximum rate of the student contribution fee for the coming academic year (2025-2026) will be €3,000, the rate it stood at before the reduction was introduced. Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless has also indicated in media interviews in recent days that the fee reduction will not continue in Budget 2026. Responding to this, the ICSMA has expressed 'serious concerns' about the impact on farm families and students. Pat O'Brien, the chairperson of the ICMSA Farm Businesses Committee, said: 'The government suggested before the last election that further education would become more affordable. 'Many families voted for this government with that in mind. 'How have the tables turned so completely? Now we're facing even higher costs to send our kids to college,' O'Brien said. The ICMSA said that the €1,000 fee reduction was introduced as part of Budget 2023 to 'alleviate the cost-of-living' crisis. However, the farm organisation cited the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rising 7.4% from the time of that announcement to May of this year. According to O'Brien, removing the fee reduction now 'would place additional strain on families already grappling with soaring expenses'. 'Reducing student contribution fees is actually written into the Programme for Government. There's a clear contradiction here if you ask me. Rent for student accommodation is astronomical,' he said. O'Brien added: 'Families can easily spend upwards of €8,000 a year on college accommodation alone. 'If you're sending more than one child to college, the financial pressure is immense and everyone should have the opportunity to attend further education.' The ICMSA is calling on the government to ensure that the €1,000 student fee reduction is part of the next budget, and to consider increasing the reduction.
