Agriculture and food must not become a battleground between Brussels and London in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations, IFA president Joe Healy has warned.

Describing the UK’s exit from the European Union as the most serious threat to Irish farming for half a century, Healy said too many farm livelihoods and jobs were at stake.

“No other country or sector is as vulnerable to Brexit as agriculture in Ireland,” said Healy. “It is beholden on both sides to put families, jobs and livelihoods up front.”

“Our beef sector is very vulnerable, with 50% of our beef exports going to the UK, while the UK accounts for 40% of all our agri-food exports.”

He called on Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed and the Government to use its strong relationship with both UK and EU leaders to influence a constructive approach for the negotiations.

And he insisted that direct aid had to be on the agenda for farmers, who had taken most of the pain caused by sterling devaluation in the past year.

“Beef farmers took a hit of €150m and mushroom farmers saw their margins wiped out. These losses are a direct result of a political decision outside farmers’ control and cannot be tolerated,” insisted Healy. “There is a provision in CAP for market disturbances and Brexit has shown itself to be a major market disturbance through the volatility in sterling.”

Arguing that Ireland’s farming sector was a special case, the IFA president called on Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan to make the retention of free trade in agriculture and food products between the EU and UK a priority.

Against the background of a CAP review, Healy warned politicians against any reduction in the CAP budget.

Joe Healy on:

Levies

“We are meeting with the main collectors of levies at the moment. We have had very positive responses from those we have met, which includes marts, meat factories and dairy co-ops. There is still work to be done. There has been no communication with ABP recently. I would like to see that the door would be open again to discuss the levy.”

Payments and GLAS

“Payment delays arising from satellite inspections will not be tolerated in 2017.

The current delays with GLAS are totally unacceptable. Farmers are very frustrated and have a right to be angry. Similarly with TAMS, the approval and payment system in 2016 left a lot to be desired.”

Market access

“The Department of Agriculture’s market access unit must be strengthened, with increased resources to deliver new markets for our processed and live export trade. However, opening markets must be more than just media announcements. We must be able to achieve a price return for farmers.”

Milk price

“Co-ops must deliver a milk price increase and reach at least 33c/l ahead of the spring peak. The dairy industry must deliver more fixed-price contracts and futures-based schemes.”

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