An Irish farmer on the national average Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payment of €265/ha will lose €80 from each entitlement under the plans for the next CAP.

This cut will affect every farmer and will be separate from any convergence (flattening) of entitlements and cuts to the overall CAP budget.

Greening currently makes up 30% of the value of all entitlements. It is to be scrapped in the next CAP, with the money being transferred into a fund for eco-schemes.

The only way farmers can recover their losses will be to enter these eco-schemes.

The budget for eco-schemes has not yet been finalised. It has been proposed that it should be either 20% or 30% of a country’s Pillar I allocation.

Ireland currently has an allocation of €1.2bn, which would give an Irish eco-scheme budget of either €242m or €363m.

Assuming the higher budget, a €79/ha payment would apply, if all farmers took part and it was paid as a flat rate per hectare. This will mean a cut for farmers with higher-value entitlements.

For example, a farmer with entitlements currently worth €450/ha would lose their €135/ha Greening payment and only gain back €79/ha from eco-schemes. This is a net loss of €56/ha.

For farmers with below-average entitlements, eco-schemes will be a chance to increase payments. For example, a farmer with entitlements worth €180/ha would lose the Greening payment of €54/ha but gain €79/ha. This would mean a net increase of €25/ha.

Eco-schemes are set to be hotly debated, with nothing known yet about the criteria for entry, how the scheme will be constructed and how payment will be determined.