Genuine farmers, payment caps and support for the suckler and sheep sectors were the key issues raised at an IFA meeting on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in Athy last week.
On the definition of a genuine farmer, Kilkenny IFA chair James Murphy said: “I get a sense that there’s almost a reluctance to have a serious look at this and to really challenge ourselves to come up with a wording around the genuine farmer.
“This retired farmer, this couch farmer, whatever you want to call him … we have to ask ourselves can this farmer genuinely expect that they then have a right to access CAP money?”
“If we want to protect the CAP budget, we’ve got to be credible and I believe that the money has got to go to the farmer who’s taking the risk, to the farmer who’s calving the cow, lambing the ewe, planting the crop, milking the cow – but he’s got to be active. I have a real issue with the idea that a farmer can be active by going out with a large topper once a year and maintaining land in good agricultural and environmental condition,” he said.
Brian Rushe, Kildare IFA chair
“There are a lot of issues in the CAP debate.
“One thing that’s very clear to me from day one, from listening to the commissioner and Europe, this CAP will take a more environmental look. What tillage farmers were asked to do in terms of greening, livestock and other sectors are going to be asked to do more in order to fulfil the criteria.
“We have hedgerows, permanent pasture, hill farmers all sequestering carbon and we’re not getting credit enough for it and we need to get credit for it.
“So it’s vitally important in this reform that any introduction of environmental measures doesn’t erode the payment.”
Francie Gorman, Laois IFA chair
“What we want to see addressed when we put together a CAP document is that you have to be actively farming. Why should somebody get a payment if they’re a year into a lease and they’re not farming? They already have a very attractive tax scheme that gives them up to €40,000 a year for 15 years tax-free. They’re being well paid in rental.
“That money is scarce in CAP, we’re working on a reduced budget, so any money that can be garnered by taking people who are not genuinely farming out of the mix – that has to be an absolute policy of this association or else the likes of us that are going to meetings in Dublin are wasting our time. Whatever sort of a policy we bring up, we’re going to have to try and prioritise the suckler and sheep sectors. If we don’t look after these vulnerable sectors, we won’t have an organisation in 10 years’ time to represent anybody.”
Genuine farmers, payment caps and support for the suckler and sheep sectors were the key issues raised at an IFA meeting on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in Athy last week.
On the definition of a genuine farmer, Kilkenny IFA chair James Murphy said: “I get a sense that there’s almost a reluctance to have a serious look at this and to really challenge ourselves to come up with a wording around the genuine farmer.
“This retired farmer, this couch farmer, whatever you want to call him … we have to ask ourselves can this farmer genuinely expect that they then have a right to access CAP money?”
“If we want to protect the CAP budget, we’ve got to be credible and I believe that the money has got to go to the farmer who’s taking the risk, to the farmer who’s calving the cow, lambing the ewe, planting the crop, milking the cow – but he’s got to be active. I have a real issue with the idea that a farmer can be active by going out with a large topper once a year and maintaining land in good agricultural and environmental condition,” he said.
Brian Rushe, Kildare IFA chair
“There are a lot of issues in the CAP debate.
“One thing that’s very clear to me from day one, from listening to the commissioner and Europe, this CAP will take a more environmental look. What tillage farmers were asked to do in terms of greening, livestock and other sectors are going to be asked to do more in order to fulfil the criteria.
“We have hedgerows, permanent pasture, hill farmers all sequestering carbon and we’re not getting credit enough for it and we need to get credit for it.
“So it’s vitally important in this reform that any introduction of environmental measures doesn’t erode the payment.”
Francie Gorman, Laois IFA chair
“What we want to see addressed when we put together a CAP document is that you have to be actively farming. Why should somebody get a payment if they’re a year into a lease and they’re not farming? They already have a very attractive tax scheme that gives them up to €40,000 a year for 15 years tax-free. They’re being well paid in rental.
“That money is scarce in CAP, we’re working on a reduced budget, so any money that can be garnered by taking people who are not genuinely farming out of the mix – that has to be an absolute policy of this association or else the likes of us that are going to meetings in Dublin are wasting our time. Whatever sort of a policy we bring up, we’re going to have to try and prioritise the suckler and sheep sectors. If we don’t look after these vulnerable sectors, we won’t have an organisation in 10 years’ time to represent anybody.”
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