The agriculture and food development authority, Teagasc, has said that full decoupling of EU farm payments from production would have "the greatest positive impact on the environment". In new research published today, it also said farmers' incomes were better served by the new payment system.
The European Commission moved to end payments to farmers which are directly linked to their volume of production during the recent difficult round of talks on CAP reform.
The Commission originally wanted to decouple all subsidies from production. However, it agreed in the face of resistance from some member-states to introduce some flexibility.
In their research, Teagasc's economists said the reduction in livestock numbers resulting from the complete removal of the link between farm production and payments would "substantially reduce the contribution made by agriculture to greenhouse gas emissions from Ireland".
Mr Trevor Donnellan, a Teagasc economists attached to the FAPRI-Ireland policy analysis unit, said Ireland was unusual among developed economies because close to a third of its greenhouse gas emissions come from agricultural sources.
He said, as a result of full decoupling, emissions of greenhouse gases from agriculture by 2010 will have fallen by 14 per cent below the estimated 1990 level.
"These cuts in greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture should ease the pressure to reduce emissions in other sectors of the Irish economy, making it more feasible for Ireland to meet the targets set out in the Kyoto agreement."
Teagasc's research also found that full decoupling of all EU farm payments from 2005 is the best means of securing farmers' futures and of increasing their incomes.
Teagasc said full decoupling, combined with some changes in agricultural trade policies under the World Trade Organisation talks, would lead to a 10 per cent increase in aggregate farm income by 2012, compared to the income levels that would occur under current policies.
The Irish Farmers Association (IFA)and other farming groups were studying the Teagasc research this evening.