IRISH AGRICULTURE will lose €200 million per year if the system of EU payments to farmers is changed, an Oireachtas agriculture committee report has said.
The report on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (Cap) post 2013, makes 12 recommendations, including:
l Resources sufficient to maintain the present value of direct payments should be provided in the new financial perspective;
l Unfair commercial factors in the food chain should be addressed and, where necessary, competition law amended to ensure equity for farmers;
l Resources to preserve existing social, food security and environmental gains, including the cost of enlargement, must be maintained;
l Negotiations should be sequenced so final decisions on further changes will be taken in full knowledge of the resources available;
l Conditions for national administrators and farmers should be simplified;
l The possibility of providing extra assistance for active/young farmers through a special environmental scheme should be explored;
l Rural development measures should be expanded to enable farmers to modernise, increase productivity and achieve potential towards preserving the environment;
l The criteria for determining less favoured areas should be sufficiently flexible.
The agriculture spokesmen for the Dáil parties, Andrew Doyle (Fine Gael), Bobby Aylward (Fianna Fáil), Seán Sherlock (Labour) and Martin Ferris (Sinn Féin) agreed that funding of the new Cap would be at the core of negotiations. Pointing out that Britain was determined to cut expenditure on the policy, committee chairman Johnny Brady TD said that would be opposed not only by Ireland but by its EU allies.
“We fought the Brits before and we will fight them again,” said Mr Brady.
Mr Doyle said the British failed to see the Cap had delivered cheap and safe food to European people.
The report, which was compiled by Bart Brady of the Department of Agriculture, said weakening the Cap would lose market share for the EU, risk food security and price volatility and reduce attention to the environment.
It also said direct payments per hectare on declared eligible land showed Irish farmers received €270 per hectare in 2008, one euro less than the European average. Submissions to the committee came from farm organisations, the Irish Dairy Board, Irish Rural Link, the co-operative movement and the meat industry.