Agriculture faces uncertain future as Irish presidency of the EU attempts to secure a deal on reform of the Cap

Some 120 members of the Irish Farmers’ Association will gather at their headquarters in Dublin’s Bluebell tomorrow for their annual general meeting in what will be a key year for the organisation.

The next six months will be crucial for farmers as the Irish presidency of the EU attempts to secure a deal on reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.

Later in the year, the IFA’s 88,000 members will get the chance to vote for a new president to replace John Bryan who will finish his four-year term in December.

When Mr Bryan was settling into his new role in January 2010, an Irish Times editorial noted that there could hardly be a less favourable time to take charge of the farm organisation.

Code of practice

The country had just experienced two dismally wet summers, the recession was in full swing and farmers were under serious financial pressure.

The editorial writer said the most immediate challenge facing Mr Bryan involved the prices being paid for farm produce by factories and supermarkets.

Three years later, farmers are still highlighting the large gap that exists between farm gate and supermarket prices.

And they are still calling for a code of practice to protect producers from sharp practices by powerful supermarket chains.

Anecdotes abound about producers being asked for payments to put their produce on shelves, or keep them there, or to contribute to the opening of new outlets.

However, producers are reluctant to speak in public because of the risk of being blacklisted by retailers.

Mr Bryan has regularly highlighted this issue and he led protests at supermarkets last year in a bid to draw attention to the issue.

He says the retail giants are behaving “totally irresponsibly” by refusing to pay pig, poultry, fresh produce and liquid milk producers a fair price.

He has less than a year to see if his campaign will bear fruit and is expected to continue to put pressure on the Government to enact legislation that would see a code of conduct for the retail sector, backed up by an independent Ombudsman.

It was one of the grievances that led to the running of the “Day of Action” protest in Dublin last October.

Before the event, misgivings were expressed by some farmers who feared it could cause a backlash because all sectors were suffering in the recession.

But the protest was one of the biggest held by farmers in more than a decade. It attracted an estimated 20,000 farmers who marched peacefully through Dublin city centre and brought black bags with them to clean up any rubbish they generated.

And despite bracing themselves for criticism, the event did not generate too much negative comment on forums such as RTÉ’s Liveline.

The main focus of that protest was the proposed Cap reforms and tomorrow’s meeting is expected to be dominated by this.

The Irish presidency of the EU is facing an uphill battle in trying to get agreement on Cap reforms before its term ends in June.

The overall EU budget, known as the multi-annual financial framework, still has not been agreed so agriculture ministers don’t yet know what budget they have to work with. It is hoped that the overall budget will be agreed early next month at the summit of the heads of state.

Then Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney – in his role as president of the council of agriculture ministers – will attempt to get consensus on the next phase of the Cap.

The EU Commission is proposing a reform of the policy that would change the way the annual single farm payment is made. Instead of basing it on past production, it is planning to move towards a flat payment per hectare.

Payments drop

Department of Agriculture research has suggested that more farmers will gain than lose under this proposal, but the IFA has been strongly critical of this approach, saying active farmers would lose out and this would affect food production.

Mr Bryan says thousands of farmers would see their payments drop by 30 to 60 per cent under this plan.

Cap reform always fails to capture the public’s interest and was recently described by Fintan O’Toole as one of the three most boring things in the world. (The other two were pensions and the EU in general).

But in the coming months the IFA will be trying to convince the public just why they should be interested in the reform.

Mr Bryan will be stressing that the seven-year Cap deal is worth about €1.6 billion per year to this State and supports 300,000 jobs right across Ireland.

If the cheque in the post shrinks dramatically, the impact will be felt by shops and small businesses throughout rural Ireland. No IFA president will want that as his legacy.