Farmers in the southeast, “home of tillage in this country”, have warned of an “absolute attack” on the sector in the next CAP.

Key tillage farmer concerns include income loss through convergence, the loss of leased land entitlements and “complicated” schemes.

Speaking at the Irish Farmers Journal CAP information event in Carlow this week, tillage farmer Colm Fingleton said: “Tillage farmers are being punched in the face by the Department of Agriculture on [the CAP].

“Everybody is talking about the need to produce more feed, grain, vegetables off the land we have and you’re trying to shut farmers out of tillage. Your attack on tillage farmers is an outrage.”

Schemes not helping

Fingleton suggested the CAP’s Tillage Incentive Scheme is “of no benefit really to tillage farmers because most of our land is already in tillage”.

He also described how many farmers in the sector have “large amounts of leased land” to “survive in tillage as a sole operator” and warned that these will now lose entitlements.

Another tillage farmer, Michael Fawle, said: “I believe if you take the cost of conacre is gone roughly from €200/ac to €300-€350/ac and if you look at the drop in the Single Farm Payment for the large backbone tillage farmer in this area, they will be dropping land like dead flies because they physically will be just gone out of business.”

Tillage farmers risk going out of business due to income loss under the next CAP, suggested one farmer. \ Philip Doyle

A number of farmers present also criticised the Department’s positioning of ACRES as a solution to farm income loss when they said many farmers “can’t get in”.

‘Central’ policy

While acknowledging farmers’ worries, Department official Francis Morrin responded: “It’s not that money is being taken away from tillage and it’s just not being spent, it is all being redistributed back to farmers. That’s what convergence is.

“Unfortunately, those of you who are converging downwards, you’ll see a reduction in your entitlement values. But it is a central EU policy.”

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