A €3.5 billion plan to help Irish agriculture make the transformation from EU supported farming to farming for the market was unveiled yesterday by the president of the Irish Farmers' Association, Pádraig Walshe.
The plan envisages half a billion euro each year being pumped into agriculture through the National Development Plan to the year 2013 plus a one-off injection of taxpayers' money of €100 million to restructure the dairy industry.
The organisation's new president put forward his 75-point blueprint for the future at his family farm outside Durrow, Co Laois, yesterday where he defended the need for an injection of money so the important sector could survive and prosper.
"Irish farming is facing unprecedented challenges that require an accelerated Government policy response and new investment to secure the competitiveness and future viability of the sector, in which food exports are worth over €7 billion per year to the economy," he said.
Mr Walshe defended his plan's cost saying that the farming and food sector, and service industries depending on them, provided 320,000 jobs or 20 per cent of all non-public service employment.
He said what was being asked for was small in relation to manufacturing jobs.
"The pace of change in Cap reform and the impact of globalisation through the WTO pose immense and immediate challenges for Irish farmers operating in a high-cost economy. Farm product prices and farm incomes are under pressure," he said.
Asked how the plan would be funded, he said the IFA estimated that the measures proposed would cost about €500 million a year and there would also be a one-off cost of €100 million for investment and restructuring of the dairy processing industry.
He said the fact that the IFA had pulled out of the national programme talks did not impact on this plan which was a long-term view of farming where doing nothing was not an option.
"The more significant measures in budget terms would be incorporated in the National Development Plan, 2007-13, including Reps, disadvantaged areas scheme, on-farm investment, early retirement and forestry. This expenditure must be viewed as the elements of the NDP covering agri-food development, agri-environment sustainability and rural development," he said.
The central element of the blueprint is a major drive for improved competitiveness and structural reform in farming. The document proposes a national initiative on farm consolidation, including both relief from capital gains tax and stamp duty, and long-term land leasing incentives.
It is also calling for a revitalised EU early retirement scheme, improved installation aid for young farmers and a new farm modernisation scheme to accelerate structural reform and improve competitiveness.
He also proposed specific measures to develop scale and improve efficiency in the main farming sectors, including a €100 million three-year investment and restructuring plan for the dairy processing sector and a beef suckler herd maintenance programme. The submission to the Government includes a section on renewable energy from agriculture and forestry.
IFA plan: highlights
A 500 million a year injection from 2007 into farm structures to be part of the National Development Plan 2007-2013.
A three-year restructuring and investment plan for the dairy processing sector, to be led by Enterprise Ireland with a dedicated budget of 100 million.
A new farm modernisation scheme to cover all aspects of agriculture, with 50 per cent grant aid in disadvantaged areas and 40 per cent in other areas.
A national initiative on farm consolidation, including both relief from capital gains tax and stamp duty, and long-term land leasing incentives, to encourage investment and consolidation of land.
A suckler herd maintenance programme designed to support 60,000 livestock farmers with payment equivalent to 100 per suckler beef cow.
Increased payments in the early retirement scheme to facilitate the transfer of land to younger farmers and tax breaks for young farmers setting up in the business.