A special report on the impact of the forthcoming reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy on the Irish economy will be published on Tuesday next, the day before the EU Agriculture Commissioner, Dr Franz Fischler, announces his full reform package.
The report was commissioned by the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh, when Dr Fischler unveiled his radical overhaul of the CAP last July.
This was amended, however, following the summit on the EU budget last year.
The Irish report has been compiled by the Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute, which includes economists from Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority and experts from the University of Missouri.
On Wednesday Dr Fischler published six studies assessing the impact of the reforms, which involve decoupling of direct payments to farmers from production and cutting back on the amount of those direct payments from 2006-2012. Dr Fischler said the reports, which had been demanded by member-states, including Ireland, showed the reforms should increase farmers' incomes and have only a minor impact on markets.
"The results clearly show that we are right with this reform," he told a news conference on the impact studies, four commissioned from external sources and two internal.
"Decoupling will lead to some production adjustments, but in no way will it lead to farmers abandoning their land. And the most substantive result is that farm income will be positively affected by the reform," he said.
Dr Fischler said the reports had shown that beef production was likely to fall by around 3 per cent from 2004 to 2009 because of the decoupling proposal, but livestock producers could expect to see prices rise by 7 per cent in the same period.
"Hence, the market revenue of beef producers would increase by 4 per cent, and this is what counts," he said.
"The studies clearly show that doom-mongers who have claimed that our reforms would make British roast beef disappear or the Irish beef industry shut down have got it wrong," he added.
Farm incomes were expected to rise by an average 1.7 per cent by 2009 compared with those seen in 2001 as production falls across several sectors would be more than offset by corresponding rises in producer prices.
"The studies also highlight that the reforms envisaged by the Commission would significantly improve market balances," Dr Fischler said.
" This means that in the future our taxpayers' money would not be spent on financing unsaleable food mountains."
Ireland and France have been the most vocal opponents of the Fischler reforms because of the impact they are likely to have on the beef sector.
Both countries believe that the reforms were introduced too soon after the last round of reforms, which were due to remain in place until 2006.
While a mid-term review of the last package, known as Agenda 2000, was expected, a full shift in the major subsidies policies had not been expected and took the whole of Europe by surprise.
Since Dr Fischler's first statements in July, there has been a lot of uncertainty in the sector, particularly in the beef markets, where farmers purchased a lot of beef cattle before the end of the year, hoping that 2002 would be a reference year for payments in the reform package.
The Fine Gael spokesman on agriculture, Mr Billy Timmins, called on Mr Walsh to publish the FAPRI report quickly, due to the importance of agriculture to the economy.