The top area selected by hill sheep farmers for prioritisation for funding under the impending CAP reform is generational renewal.

This message was delivered by Cathal Buckley, Teagasc Rural Economy and Development Programme, at Wednesday night’s Teagasc hill sheep conference held in Ballybofey, Co Donegal.

Cathal explained the survey was carried out as an addition to the 2018 National Farm Survey.

Cathal Buckley, Teagasc, outlining what measures hill sheep farmers want to se prioritised under the next CAP reform.

Farmers were asked to rank a number of potential future priorities on a scale of one to five where one is to strongly disagree and five is strongly agree.

The results which are detailed in the graph show that generation renewal was viewed as high priority with a score of 3.9 out of five.

Generation renewal is defined in many CAP related forums as going beyond solely bringing in new younger blood to the sector, it also seeks that farmers are incorporated into a sustainable farming system and providing the necessary supports to make this happen.

Environmental management

Improved water quality outcomes and improved biodiversity outcomes were highlighted as the next priority measures. Cathal says this shows the high regard that farmers place on environmental management and is also possibly linked to hill sheep farmers seeing these as areas that they can have a meaningful effect on improving.

Recoupling of payments was the lowest priority area, ranking well below all other options.

Stay tuned for more reports from the conference and also read a full report in next week’s edition of the Irish Farmers Journal.