Payments under current agri-environmental schemes are set to plummet by nearly 70% to less than €90m in 2015, according to an analysis carried out by the Irish Farmers Journal.

It shows that payments will fall massively from the €273m paid out in 2011. With the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney predicting that the new GLAS scheme will not open until September 2015, it means that just €28m at best will go to farmers in 2015 under the scheme.

It has led to renewed calls to open GLAS early or to boost payments under an improved genomic scheme in 2015 to protect farm incomes.

The analysis uses figures released in response to a parliamentary question tabled by Deputy Eamon O Cuiv. It shows that between 2011 and 2013, farmers have suffered cuts of €227m, or 12% of all payments. It works out at over €1,700 per farmer.

While the focus has been on cuts to Pillar II schemes, payments under Pillar I, made up mainly of the Single Farm Payment, fell by €123m between 2011 and 2013. This works out at a reduction of 9% or €930 per farmer.

Payments for schemes under Pillar II and the small number of national funding schemes fell by 19% – a reduction of €109m in 2013 compared to 2011. The average reduction was €786 per farmer.

However, the figures show that with the reduction in the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme budget, the loss of the Suckler Cow Welfare Scheme and REPS payments being phased out, many farmers suffered much greater cuts to what is effectively their income.

Pillar I

The cut of €123m paid under the Single Farm Payment scheme is due to the increase in the rate of modulation deduction after 2011 from 9% to 10%. The extra modulation was deducted from all payments in excess of €5,000.

In addition, a financial discipline deduction of 2.45% was applied to all payments in 2013 in excess of €2,000. The 2014 Single Farm Payments to farmers will be similar to those made in 2013.

Two years of the Grassland Sheep Scheme was paid in 2012 but the budget was reduced by €4m in 2013 due to budgetary constraints. However, the Grassland Sheep Scheme was increased by €2m in 2014 and is being included in the individual farmer payments under the new CAP.

In Pillar II, payments under the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme were reduced following changes in the national budgetary allocation. However, the amount of funding was increased between 2012 and 2013 by €5m to €195m. Payments are set to remain at this level for 2014 and 2015 under what will be now called the Areas of National Constraint scheme.

The five-year term of the Suckler Cow Welfare Scheme ended on 31 December 2012, after which there was a dramatic fall in payments to suckler farmers. The Beef Technology Adaption Programme (BTAP) was introduced in 2012 using national funding and overall expenditure increased in 2013 by almost 20% to over €5m.

The Sheep Technology Adoption Programme (STAP) and the Development Programme for Dairying were implemented in 2013 and overall expenditure amounted to approximately €3.5m using national funding.

Agri-environmental cuts

The analysis shows the biggest cuts under Pillar II were under agri-environmental schemes. Payments under REPS have fallen from a high of €260m in 2011 to €146m in 2013.

Even with the introduction of AEOS, the amount under environmental schemes fell by €70m between 2011 and 2013. With just 17,000 farmers left in REPS in 2014, the overall payments will fall closer to €180m.

The biggest drop will be seen in 2015 – analysis by the Irish Famers Journal shows overall payments under current environmental schemes will plummet to just €90m, nearly 70% less than in 2011.

While the 20,000 farmers in AEOS will still get similar payments, REPS payments fall to just €9m as the last farmers leave the scheme. If the GLAS scheme does open in September, we anticipate that it could pay €28m to 30,000 farmers.

Looking at the figures, Ó Cúiv questioned the ability of both planners and the civil service to ensure that 30,000 farmers would be eligible for GLAS payments in 2015.

Given the vulnerability of farmers’ incomes and their current dependency on direct payments for profits, he proposed boosting payments significantly under the proposed genomic beef scheme for 2015.

“This would not only underpin farmers’ incomes in 2015, but it would allow them to accelerate the progress toward producing the quality that will demand a higher price from the market.”

Ó Cúiv said a similar type scheme should be targeted at the sheep sector in 2015 to underpin the sector.

“We have seen a plethora of small schemes with small budgets introduced in the last few years. This leads to increased bureaucracy and red tape and more inspections that increase the risk of farmers being penalised across all their direct payments. Farmers that I talk to would prefer to focus on fewer schemes that make up most of the budget,” said Ó Cúiv.

IFA President Eddie Downey said: “The cutbacks to farm schemes such as REPS and disadvantaged areas over the past number of years have had a very negative effect on farm incomes. This is borne out by the most recent 2013 Teagasc National Farm Survey, which clearly showed that the reduction in direct payments has impacted on farm income, particularly in the drystock sector.

“An opportunity now exists for the Government and the Minister for Agriculture to put in place a strong Pillar II Rural Development Programme and over €500m of funding for RDP farm schemes must be provided in this October’s budget to pay out on a range of farm schemes next year,” he said.

The IFA has called for the new agri-environmental GLAS scheme to start in early 2015, with 30,000 farmers getting a full year’s payment. They also want funding of €52m for the Beef Data and Genomic Scheme to support the vulnerable suckler sector and an allocation of €30m for the TAMS scheme in 2015 to fund on-farm investment programmes across all sectors.