The CAP advisory committee met in the Department of Agriculture last Thursday. The topic of a National Reserve was one of the items discussed and IFA deputy president Richard Kennedy said there is a positive outlook on funds being available in 2017.

“The IFA is very clear on the need for a National Reserve for young farmers in 2017. The National Reserve can be funded from unused funds allocated under the Young Farmers Scheme without the necessity to take any additional funds from existing entitlements,” he said.

“The Department of Agriculture outlined to the committee that there is €5.1m in unused funds from the Young Farmers Scheme available and this can be used to establish a reserve for 2017.”

If this is the only funds available, it is likely that any scheme would be very targeted and would differ from 2015.

Kennedy said: “The IFA made it very clear to the Department at the advisory committee meeting that imposing an additional linear cut on existing entitlements is not acceptable to farmers” and “there was full agreement at the committee on this important point”.

The National Reserve was open for applications in 2015 as part of CAP reform.

Young farmers were allocated a total of €52.5m from the National Reserve and the Young Farmers Scheme combined. From a total of 6,250 farmers, 5,570 who received funding were young farmers with an average Basic Payment Scheme payment of €9,000.

Richard Kennedy also said that 9,050 young farmers received an average of €2,900 top-up payment under the Young Farmers Scheme in 2015, with payments also made in 2016, as shown on the right.

50% clawback

There is still no further news on whether the 50% clawback rule on the sale of entitlements will be changed in 2017.

The clawback is under review and the Irish Farmers Journal understands that it is being evaluated with a view to reduce the level of clawback.

Reports from auctioneers point to high levels of interest, with farmers weighing up if they need to rent land or would be better placed to hold off and sell entitlements if the clawback reduces.

A lower clawback stimulating more sales would also generate more funds with very low sales in 2016 and a clawback in the region of €13,000.