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Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has stated that a stakeholder consultation is under way to assist the Department of Agriculture in deciding which new requirements will face farmers on peat soils under the CAP from 2024 onwards.
Although the new rules are expected to be in force from 1 January, no decision has been made on what these farmers will be required to do to receive CAP payments.
The CAP strategic plan states that “due to the nature of Ireland’s soils” it is anticipated that a “significant portion of Irish agricultural land will fall under the definition of peatland/wetland” and face the new standards.
A “ban on ploughing” and the “use of min till/no till cultivation” are the only examples mentioned in the CAP strategic plan of the standards which could apply.
Requirements
“The actual requirements to be implemented are yet to be decided and a stakeholder consultation process is currently under way to assist this process,” the minister responded to a question put by Fianna Fáil colleague Barry Cowen TD.
“The GAEC 2 standard will subsequently be introduced to the CAP strategic plan by way of an amendment, which will be subject to the approval by the European Commission.”
Minister McConalogue added that the new rules “will endeavour to take into account the need to facilitate ‘normal agriculture practice’ as far as practicable”.
“Thus, while the requirements have yet to be agreed, it is anticipated that they will facilitate the continuation of agricultural activities while setting out some basic minimum best practices intended to protect these carbon rich areas, which is the key objective of this standard.”
Conditionality, which has replaced cross compliance since the beginning of this year, is the set of minimum standards a farmer must meet to receive CAP payments.
The introduction of requirements related to the protection of peatlands - under GAEC 2 of the CAP - was deferred until 2024 to give the Department time to map which parcels of land are affected.
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