FARMERS WERE warned yesterday they could face substantial cuts in their EU direct payments in the forthcoming reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (Cap).
Scottish MEP George Lyon of the European Parliament’s agriculture committee, who drew up its report on the impact cutting the EU budget would have on the Cap, told the Agricultural Science Association conference at the Mount Wolseley Hotel in Carlow that the negotiations would be the most difficult since the MacSharry reforms.
Mr Lyon said Irish agriculture faced “a triple whammy” that would lead to substantial cuts in direct payments. The first, he said, was pressure from finance ministers in EU member states for budgetary cuts. The second was pressure from those who wished to see cuts to the Cap and the money spent elsewhere. “They want the money spent on other priorities such as climate change and economic recovery through job creation. We have already seen that threat emerge in the leaked EU Commission draft budget paper last November,” he said.
On top of that, there is demand from new member states for a greater share of the cake when distributing direct payments. He said Ireland could lose out if that argument prevails.
Mr Lyon told delegates that defending the system was not an option and he predicted a move to an area-based system, a flat rate, which would mean there would be substantial losers and winners.
Such a flat-rate system would be “totally opposed” by the Government, Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith, who opened the conference, told a press conference. He said the negotiations would be very difficult and he was holding a series of bilateral meetings with his European counterparts to ensure Ireland got its fair share of the Cap budget.
John Bryan, president of the Irish Farmers’ Association, said the alternative to a fully-funded Cap would be the decimation of the EU farm family structure, which would lead to price volatility and a reduction in the security of food supply.
The conference was told the number of Teagasc advisers had fallen by 40 per cent over the past two years and the number of its advisory offices fell from 90 to 50. Teagasc’s director of knowledge transfer, Dr Tom Kelly, said the number of farmer clients serviced by its advisers remained at over 40,000. This reflected its long-term strategy of maintaining services to the maximum number of farmers.
Mr Smith also announced yesterday the group charged with driving food exports is to meet next week. The special implementation group will drive the recommendations of the Food Harvest 2020report.
He reminded delegates the report set the target of increasing food and drink exports to €12 billion by 2020; to increase milk production by 50 per cent; add 20 per cent to the value of the beef sector and to improve competitiveness by 20 per cent.