The danger of the farming community becoming alienated from EU rural development schemes was highlighted by MEP Maireád McGuinness.
Ms McGuinness is involved in the preparation of a major report on strategic guidelines for rural development for the European Parliament. She said uncertainty over funding from 2007-2013 was putting a brake on rural development initiatives.
"The so-called club of six, including the UK, wants to keep the overall budget at 1 per cent of gross national income of the EU, even though to fund all the priority areas already agreed more funding is needed."
Ms McGuinness said if this view persists, there will not be enough money to fund the ambitious plans for rural development envisaged by the commission for the period 2007-2013. And other programmes could also face funding cuts.
"I believe there is a real danger that farmers feel excluded from the process. The success of rural development lies in ensuring that there is a vibrant, profitable farming sector.
"We cannot have one without the other. Profitable farming generates jobs and revenue in rural areas and all efforts must be maintained to ensure that farming is profitable into the future.
"Rural development is seen as the future for agriculture policy. If this is the case, then farmers must be fully involved in it," she said.
"The single farm payment must be honoured. It will be decreased over time, but should not be attacked ahead of time, although it is abundantly clear that the Cap faces a major review in 2008/2009."
The future lies in young people being willing to live in rural areas, she said.
This requires that the level of services provided in urban centres is provided in rural areas. She said there was a real threat to EU and Irish farming in the concessions being proposed in the World Trade Organisation negotiations by trade commissioner Peter Mandelson.
If there were too many concessions made too quickly, there was a real danger the EU internal market for agricultural produce could become destabilised.
Yesterday the French farm minister Dominique Bussereau told the French senate she believed that a new European Union offer on agriculture in world trade talks was not within the EU Commission's negotiating mandate.