It is vital that the Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue is prepared to hold out for a better CAP deal, IFA president Tim Cullinan has said.

“There’s another month left in the Portuguese presidency and no deal is better than a bad deal.”

The comments follow a meeting betwee Cullinan and the president of the EU Agriculture Council Maria do Céu Antunes on Wednesday morning in Brussels ahead of the Council of Ministers meeting.

Eco schemes

Cullinan who was acting in his capacity of first vice-president of COPA, insisted that eco-schemes have the potential to severely affect farm incomes.

“If the EU were serious about more environmental ambition, they should put up more funding instead of taking 20% to 30% off every farmer’s existing Basic Payment,” he said.

“We have no option other than to keep these so-called eco-schemes to a minimum as it is clear that they will cost farmers money and compound the impact of convergence on farmers with higher per-hectare payments.

“It’s very important that countries which have committed a lot of their Pillar II payments to environmental initiatives, including Ireland, are given credit for this when it comes to finalising their eco-scheme percentage.”

Viable farmers

The IFA said there was a need to ensure that the conditions for eligibility (GAECS) were practical and would not impact on commercial agriculture including on peatlands.

“European farmers have to comply with numerous conditions to receive their payments and these are being ratcheted up again as part of this reform. Farmers are being asked to do more and more for less money,” Cullinan continued.

“This is a hugely important week for Irish agriculture as the outcome of CAP reform will decide the future viability of thousands of farmers.

“At present, only one-third of farmers in Ireland are classed as viable. This redistributive effect of this reform is likely to reduce the number of viable farmers. It is counter to all logic.”