Madam, - I have to take issue with your Agriculture Correspondent's assessment of the mid-term review (July 28th). Mr MacConnell has chosen not to mention any of the negative effects of these reforms. He overlooks the fact that all farmers will experience an initial drop in aid received, and many will see this aid reduced further by 5 per cent per year by 2007 and thereafter.
Full (or part) decoupling will most certainly not end the bureaucracy, contrary to what Mr MacConnell believes. Neither will it fully allow farmers to farm as they wish. Yes, decoupling to whatever degree will help free up farming. That in itself is to be welcomed. However, the mandatory black biro will still be necessary for form-filling, despite Mr MacConnell's assertion "that the main benefit will be the end to form-filling". I wish. We shouldn't overlook the fact that all this form-filling has created hundreds, if not thousands, of good jobs in the Department of Agriculture, processing all these EU-generated, farmer-filled forms. Will these people be made redundant? Don't you believe it. My job as a farmer will be gone long before theirs.
Finally, Mr MacConnell suggests that farmers will be more market-driven than previously. This is a worthy aspiration, but commodity prices will have to rise significantly for this to happen. The more likely scenario, to my mind, is that we remain trapped in a low prices/aid-dependent regime. I suspect as a result of these reforms, some farmers will farm less, in the traditional sense, and become even more dependent on the cheque in the post.
Sadly, the aforementioned black biro may remain for many of us the most important crop or animal husbandry tool. - Yours, etc.,
GERALD POTTERTON, Moyrath, Kildalkey, Co Meath.