THERE WOULD be “social and economic chaos” if all farm support payments were removed, the co-author of a report on the importance of agriculture and food to the Irish economy has said.
Dr John O’Connell, who prepared the report with Prof Jim Phelan of the UCD school of agriculture and food science, made his comment at the publication of the report yesterday.
Commissioned by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), the report highlighted the importance of direct payments in supporting agricultural production and farm incomes. The payments accounted for more than 30 per cent of gross agricultural output as well as supporting the provision of non-market public goods, including environmental protection and animal welfare standards.
The report showed that a 20 per cent cut in direct payments would lead to a fall in farm incomes of between 9 per cent and 39 per cent, depending on the farm enterprise. There would be a knock-on effect: for example, output in the cattle and sheep sector alone would fall by €450 million, with an economy-wide loss of € 780 million.
Dr O’Connell said that if all supports were removed from farmers, output would shrink dramatically and there would be social and economic chaos. Prof Phelan said direct supports could only be withdrawn when consumers were prepared to pay the costs involved in production. The report said the industry provided between 278,000 and 308,000 jobs.
IFA president John Bryan said the report put beyond doubt the fact that agriculture represented good value for money for the Government.