Meat processors are looking for Government to divert as much EU funding as possible into headage payments in the next CAP as they warned that the "very farms that provide the consistency of supply for the primary processing sector" are under threat from the European Commission’s plans.
Their calls come as their representative body claimed that 2025 is amounting to “one of the most difficult years in recent times for the processing sector” due to the drop in prime cattle and sheep throughput.
A Meat Industry Ireland (MII) submission to the Oireachtas agriculture committee has said that the current CAP has already funneled farm payments away from “commercial and active farmers” to “less commercial operators”.
“There must be a rebalancing of finances to support productive farmers in the next CAP, otherwise we risk losing a generation of farmers with very serious consequences in the context of EU food security,” the submission stated.
The post-2027 proposals would allow for 20% of a member state’s EU CAP envelope to be put into coupled income support, with another 5% top-up on the table for the "sectors and regions that need it most".
MII has called on Government to push for “maximum flexibility here and would advocate for even higher thresholds”.
The industry group claimed headage payments are the “most effective tool” for maintaining the national herd and the national flock.
Impact assessment sought
The Commission’s plans for the next CAP would see the current two-pillar structure replaced one with a “degressive area-based income support” scheme at its centre.
This would look to target increased payment levels towards the farmers the Commission sees as “most in need”, such as small farmers, young farmers, mixed farmers and women farmers.
Income supports valued between €20,000 and €50,000 before undergoing this proposed ‘degressivity’ procedure are to have the value of their income support payments above €20,000 slashed by a quarter under the plans the Commission is considering.
In addition, farmers due to receive between €50,000 and €75,000 before degressivity are to have 50% of their value within this window clawed back for redistribution, while amounts between €75,000 and €100,000 are to be reduced by 75%, with an outright cap of €100,000 per farmer.
MII told the Oireachtas committee that Government “must immediately conduct a full economic impact assessment of the degressivity and capping model proposed”.
“This assessment must model the precise impact of the €20,000 threshold on the viability of full-time, productive beef, sheep, dairy, and tillage farms and, consequently, on the security of supply to the processing sector.”
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Meat processors are looking for Government to divert as much EU funding as possible into headage payments in the next CAP as they warned that the "very farms that provide the consistency of supply for the primary processing sector" are under threat from the European Commission’s plans.
Their calls come as their representative body claimed that 2025 is amounting to “one of the most difficult years in recent times for the processing sector” due to the drop in prime cattle and sheep throughput.
A Meat Industry Ireland (MII) submission to the Oireachtas agriculture committee has said that the current CAP has already funneled farm payments away from “commercial and active farmers” to “less commercial operators”.
“There must be a rebalancing of finances to support productive farmers in the next CAP, otherwise we risk losing a generation of farmers with very serious consequences in the context of EU food security,” the submission stated.
The post-2027 proposals would allow for 20% of a member state’s EU CAP envelope to be put into coupled income support, with another 5% top-up on the table for the "sectors and regions that need it most".
MII has called on Government to push for “maximum flexibility here and would advocate for even higher thresholds”.
The industry group claimed headage payments are the “most effective tool” for maintaining the national herd and the national flock.
Impact assessment sought
The Commission’s plans for the next CAP would see the current two-pillar structure replaced one with a “degressive area-based income support” scheme at its centre.
This would look to target increased payment levels towards the farmers the Commission sees as “most in need”, such as small farmers, young farmers, mixed farmers and women farmers.
Income supports valued between €20,000 and €50,000 before undergoing this proposed ‘degressivity’ procedure are to have the value of their income support payments above €20,000 slashed by a quarter under the plans the Commission is considering.
In addition, farmers due to receive between €50,000 and €75,000 before degressivity are to have 50% of their value within this window clawed back for redistribution, while amounts between €75,000 and €100,000 are to be reduced by 75%, with an outright cap of €100,000 per farmer.
MII told the Oireachtas committee that Government “must immediately conduct a full economic impact assessment of the degressivity and capping model proposed”.
“This assessment must model the precise impact of the €20,000 threshold on the viability of full-time, productive beef, sheep, dairy, and tillage farms and, consequently, on the security of supply to the processing sector.”
Read more
CAP entitlement changes and new reference period proposed
Move to scrap entitlements
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