The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) has detailed CAP proposals including full convergence of direct payments by the end of the next CAP programme equating to a payment of €250/ha for every farmer across the board by 2026.
The organisation also proposes a flat cap on payments at €60,000 per farmer with no allowance for labour units, director of operations Vincent Roddy told a meeting of over 300 farmers in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, on Friday night.
He justified these proposals by highlighting the failure of the previous CAP reform to redistribute larger payments to lower paid farmers.
“This was done to protect productive farmers, but when we look at the figures, this isn’t the case,” he said.
Using 2017 data from the Department of Agriculture, he showed that farmers with payments ranging from €200-600/ha had higher stocking rates than those on €800+, stating that the more productive farmers have lower payments.
According to analysis carried out by the INHFA, these Pillar I proposals would see:
An additional €17m for Co Donegal and increased payments of 73% for farmers there. An additional €6m for Co Leitrim and increased payments for 75% of farmers there.An additional €5.5m for Co Sligo and increased payments for 66% of farmers there.The organisation is also proposing that 30% of Pillar I funding is allocated to a new eco-scheme with a flat rate payment of €75/ha paid from 2020. The carbon footprint would be measured for each farm.
Extend Sheep Welfare Scheme to sucklers
For rural development schemes, Roddy said that the INHFA is calling on the State to make up the expected 15% cut in Pillar II funding and increase its current spend from €590m to €750m.
The organisation wants to see a similar model to the Sheep Welfare Scheme introduced for sucklers with front-loaded payments on a maximum of 20 cows. The have also called for an increase in funding from €25m to €50m in the sheep welfare scheme.
”Lessons need to be learned from GLAS,” Roddy said, calling for a new agri-environmental scheme paying a minimum of €7,000.
Under the INHFA proposals, an example of a farmer on 40 ha with 10 cows and 100 ewes would see an increase in payments from €16,500 to €28,000.
€336m ANC budget after 2020
President Colm O'Donnell attributed the addition of €23m for Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) this year to the work of the INHFA.
“The total budget for ANC in 2019 will be €250 million, which is only back at 2008 and 2009 levels,” he aid.
The ANC review has now vindicated the areas which weren’t being supported by the scheme, he added.
Of the €23m in additional ANC funding, €10m will go to the additional 2,000 townlands which are now eligible for the scheme, €1m will go towards appeals while the remaining €12m will go for redistribution.
The INHFA calculated that the €12m will be redistributed as follows:
€7m to mountain areas (58%).€4m to lowland more severely handicapped areas (30%).€750,000 to lowlands less severely handicapped areas (12%).The organisation called for the ANC budget to be increased to €336m after 2020.
'Zero chance of CAP being finalised by end of 2019'
MEPs Mairead McGuiness (Fine Gael), Luck Ming Flanagan (independent) and Matt Carthy (Sinn Féin) as well as local TDs Charlie McConalogue (Fine Gael) and Thomas Pringle (independent) took part in the meeting. All three MEPs agreed that the next round of CAP was unlikely to be finalised by the end of 2019.
Several speakers sought to clarify misconceptions on CAP funding after 2020. Despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, they highlighted that the overall EU budget is proposed to increase through higher contributions from member states.
Yet the proportion of funding going to CAP is set to decrease, with a 4% cut to Pillar I funding and a 15% cut to Pillar II funding.
“This will equate to an increase in Irish contributions of €450m each year, this won’t come back to farmers” stated Luke Ming Flanagan, citing a proposed 22-fold increase in military spending.
“There’s a proposed €12bn increase in new money for the European defence fund, don’t try and pretend the cut to CAP budget is anything other than it really is,” added Matt Carty of Sinn Fein.
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The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) has detailed CAP proposals including full convergence of direct payments by the end of the next CAP programme equating to a payment of €250/ha for every farmer across the board by 2026.
The organisation also proposes a flat cap on payments at €60,000 per farmer with no allowance for labour units, director of operations Vincent Roddy told a meeting of over 300 farmers in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, on Friday night.
He justified these proposals by highlighting the failure of the previous CAP reform to redistribute larger payments to lower paid farmers.
“This was done to protect productive farmers, but when we look at the figures, this isn’t the case,” he said.
Using 2017 data from the Department of Agriculture, he showed that farmers with payments ranging from €200-600/ha had higher stocking rates than those on €800+, stating that the more productive farmers have lower payments.
According to analysis carried out by the INHFA, these Pillar I proposals would see:
An additional €17m for Co Donegal and increased payments of 73% for farmers there. An additional €6m for Co Leitrim and increased payments for 75% of farmers there.An additional €5.5m for Co Sligo and increased payments for 66% of farmers there.The organisation is also proposing that 30% of Pillar I funding is allocated to a new eco-scheme with a flat rate payment of €75/ha paid from 2020. The carbon footprint would be measured for each farm.
Extend Sheep Welfare Scheme to sucklers
For rural development schemes, Roddy said that the INHFA is calling on the State to make up the expected 15% cut in Pillar II funding and increase its current spend from €590m to €750m.
The organisation wants to see a similar model to the Sheep Welfare Scheme introduced for sucklers with front-loaded payments on a maximum of 20 cows. The have also called for an increase in funding from €25m to €50m in the sheep welfare scheme.
”Lessons need to be learned from GLAS,” Roddy said, calling for a new agri-environmental scheme paying a minimum of €7,000.
Under the INHFA proposals, an example of a farmer on 40 ha with 10 cows and 100 ewes would see an increase in payments from €16,500 to €28,000.
€336m ANC budget after 2020
President Colm O'Donnell attributed the addition of €23m for Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) this year to the work of the INHFA.
“The total budget for ANC in 2019 will be €250 million, which is only back at 2008 and 2009 levels,” he aid.
The ANC review has now vindicated the areas which weren’t being supported by the scheme, he added.
Of the €23m in additional ANC funding, €10m will go to the additional 2,000 townlands which are now eligible for the scheme, €1m will go towards appeals while the remaining €12m will go for redistribution.
The INHFA calculated that the €12m will be redistributed as follows:
€7m to mountain areas (58%).€4m to lowland more severely handicapped areas (30%).€750,000 to lowlands less severely handicapped areas (12%).The organisation called for the ANC budget to be increased to €336m after 2020.
'Zero chance of CAP being finalised by end of 2019'
MEPs Mairead McGuiness (Fine Gael), Luck Ming Flanagan (independent) and Matt Carthy (Sinn Féin) as well as local TDs Charlie McConalogue (Fine Gael) and Thomas Pringle (independent) took part in the meeting. All three MEPs agreed that the next round of CAP was unlikely to be finalised by the end of 2019.
Several speakers sought to clarify misconceptions on CAP funding after 2020. Despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, they highlighted that the overall EU budget is proposed to increase through higher contributions from member states.
Yet the proportion of funding going to CAP is set to decrease, with a 4% cut to Pillar I funding and a 15% cut to Pillar II funding.
“This will equate to an increase in Irish contributions of €450m each year, this won’t come back to farmers” stated Luke Ming Flanagan, citing a proposed 22-fold increase in military spending.
“There’s a proposed €12bn increase in new money for the European defence fund, don’t try and pretend the cut to CAP budget is anything other than it really is,” added Matt Carty of Sinn Fein.
Read more
CAP, crisis reserve and African Swine Fever on EU agenda
'Not enough being done for forgotten farmers'
Department takes hard line on CAP payment limit
Design of new CAP schemes to start in a month
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