The two main farm organisations, the IFA and the ICMSA, and the meat factories yesterday rejected the EU Commission proposals to reform the Common Agricultural Policy. The proposals are part of the Mid-Term Review of the Agenda 2000 package.
However, the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh, who will begin negotiations on the proposals next Monday, said he would like to see more of the detail before making a definitive comment.
"I do not have a difficulty with a mid-term review but I have serious concerns about fundamental reforms of a policy package for six years when we are just getting down to implementing Agenda 2000," he said.
Pledging to defend the gains for farmers made in the Agenda 2000 negotiations, Mr Walsh said the Government would not stand for any loss of its benefits to Ireland.
The Irish Farmers' Association president, Mr John Dillon, said the "most likely case scenario of the proposals was a loss of €300 million annually of transfers to Ireland and to Irish farmers".
The IFA leader dismissed claims by the Commissioner, Mr Franz Fischler, that his reform plan would be positive for Irish farmers. He said: "There are several strong reasons why the proposals would leave Irish farmers worse off and more vulnerable to future erosion of the CAP."
They represented one of the most radical reforms of CAP undertaken and were a fundamental betrayal of the Berlin Agenda 2000 agreement which was to last until 2006 subject to a mid-term review, not a mid-term "unravelling".
He said the ending of the current premiums system and replacement with a single area-based system was bad news for Irish agriculture. Additionally over a six to seven-year period, 20 per cent of the payment would be removed and transferred into a Rural Development Budget. The change in direct payments would particularly penalise grain and livestock producers and could put many of them out of business.
The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association president, Mr Pat O'Rourke, said the proposals were completely lacking in measures to support farm income. The cuts in direct payments of up to 20 per cent would further and substantially reduce incomes in the cattle and beef sector.
"In particular, the proposal to introduce stringent restrictions on exports in the beef sector is a major concern and one that Ireland will have to completely oppose," said Mr O'Rourke.
"The introduction of farm audits will replace the current raft of red tape by a costly audit system carried out by an army of inspectors. This measure will give an income to a new group of administrators at the expense of farmers," said Mr O'Rourke.
"Overall, the measures do not address income or the red tape problem but introduce a layer of audits and cross-compliance," concluded Mr O'Rourke.
The proposals, if implemented, would undermine the fabric of Irish agriculture and the food processing industry in Ireland, Mr John Smith of the Irish Meat Association said.
He said the countries most affected by the changes would be the main livestock-producing countries, and Ireland stood to suffer greatly.
The moves to decouple premium payments would seriously jeopardise lamb and beef processing. Any restructuring of such payments should encourage rather than discourage high-quality production.
"The Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh, has the full support of the meat processing industry when insisting the previous agreements on EU agriculture policy entered into by the 15 member states must be fully honoured," said Mr Smith.
The small livestock-based Irish Cattle and Stockowners' Association's general secretary, Mr Eddie Punch, was less critical of the package, which he said represented the future and posed a challenge to Ireland to embrace change and seek to proactively influence the detail in the best interests of Irish farmers.
He said that the current CAP had farmers trapped in a numbers rat race. This was inappropriate in a changing scene where off-farm work was essential for many and where those who remained full time were so poorly paid for quality produce.
The focus of agriculture policy had been towards encouraging high-volume production of low-price food.