Ireland’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) strategic plan 2023-2027 has moved another step closer to its conclusion, with the final consultation period closing on Wednesday 8 December.

The Department of Agriculture now has a tight time frame to take into account any submissions it sees fit to include, prepare the final document and submit it to the European Commission by the deadline of 31 December 2021.

The Commission will then assess each member state’s plan to see if they comply with requirements and provide feedback. The Commission has six months to approve plans, including accepting any necessary revisions, with plans coming in to legislation from 1 January 2023.

This paves the way for important secondary acts to be adopted by the European Commission

Member states are focused on getting plans finalised but there is also activity at Commission level to pave the way for the introduction of the next CAP. The new CAP regulations were published in the Official Journal this week following final votes of acceptance by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers.

This paves the way for important secondary acts to be adopted by the European Commission before year end, with the remaining acts likely to be adopted in early 2022.

Predicted changes

The Department of Agriculture essentially has about two to two-and-half weeks left to formalise the final plan when Christmas leave is taken in to account.

The feedback from Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue during his CAP mart meetings roadshow and in public meetings held with farm organisations would suggest that there are not going to be significant changes to his plan for Pillar I and Pillar II payments.

The minister has held firm in his stance of 25% of Pillar I payments being ring-fenced to fund eco schemes and similarly for 10% of Pillar I funds to be ring-fenced to fund the complementary redistributive income support for sustainability (CRISS) or front-loading as it has become commonly known.

The 3% of Pillar I payments allocated to the Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers (CIS-YF) is set in place, as is the 3% funds that will be deducted from the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (the new name for Basic Payment Scheme) to fund the National Reserve.

This leaves the level of convergence and while Minister McConalogue has debated the merits of 100% convergence, the feeling is he will stick to the minimum level of 85% convergence.

The only area where there has been significant movement on during the four-week consultation phase is on eco schemes.

The number of eco schemes has been effectively doubled from five to 10 measures. All sectors are now more satisfied, albeit with a few final tweaks required.

Pillar II payments

There have been calls from farm organisations and farmers for an increase in the level of funding apportioned to different interventions or schemes under Pillar II.

Some farm organisations have called for funds to be redirected from organics to suckler and beef enterprises.

The minister has defended his decisions robustly and it is difficult to determine if there will be any significant changes to the Pillar II programme.

Beef

Increased vulnerability of suckler and beef enterprises

Ireland’s direct payments were historically developed by the low-income suckler and beef sectors.

The CAP reform proposals in their current form will see enterprises reliant on direct payments becoming increasingly vulnerable. Convergence will strike another hard blow to those with higher-value entitlements and this, along with funds lost through front-loading and eco schemes will threaten the viability of full-time farmers in particular.

Specialist beef finishing units will experience a significant reduction in payment levels, which in turn may also affect suckler farmers via reduced purchasing power for stock.

It is vital that schemes such as BEEP-S continue with significant funds allocated while a slaughter premium, which has been mooted under climate change and the Brexit Adjustment Reserve fund, could help to limit the loss in income faced by many beef finishers.

- Adam Woods, beef and suckler editor

Dairy

TAMS inclusivity for dairy farmers

The addition of a number of new measures to the suite of eco schemes is to be welcomed and should now offer options for all dairy farmers to participate.

The other area where dairy farmers need to see changes in the final CAP document is under proposals for the On-Farm Capital Investment Scheme.

The exclusion of dairy equipment from the proposals will severely limit dairy farmers’ potential to invest and improve efficiency.

We understand it has been omitted as the Department does not want to fund increased production but eliminating it completely is wrong. Improving efficiency at current herd levels will improve farm safety, labour efficiency and energy usage on farms.

The facility also needs to be in the new scheme to fund any future changes to slurry storage capacity required on farms.

- Aidan Brennan, dairy editor

Tillage

Tweaks to the space for nature eco scheme measure

The adjustments to the proposed list of eco scheme measures and the addition of a few new measures has improved the prospects of tillage farmers participating in eco schemes. A couple of more tweaks to some of these measures have been discussed and would solve some remaining issues.

The space for nature measure is a workable fit for tillage farmers if beans (or a forage legume) were included as an eligible crop. In the current CAP, growing beans or autumn catch crops contributed to the Ecological Focus Area (EFA), with this area of beans also eligible for the protein aid scheme.

Such a move in the next CAP would enhance tillage farmer participation in eco schemes while also reducing Ireland’s reliance on imported protein feeds. However, herbicide usage on this crop would be essential to make it attractive as growers cannot afford to have increasing weed problems in the face of decreased pesticide usage.

In the break crop measure, the 25% obligation needs to be reduced to 20%, with some flexibility in the specific requirement to allow for varying field sizes on an annual basis. The inclusion of root crops would also be a big plus.

- Andy Doyle, tillage editor

Sheep

Support for breeding initiatives

The standout proposed change in the Sheep Improvement Scheme, which will replace the Sheep Welfare Scheme, is the inclusion of the requirement to purchase genotyped rams.

The lowland sector is in a pretty good position to produce the number of rams required to meet this measure but the hill sheep sector is facing significant challenges in this regard with only a couple of groups performance recording. If this measure is to come to fruition then necessary support mechanisms will be required to ensure all farmers can easily participate.

The Agri-Environment Climate Measure (AECM) proposes 30,000 places for individual entry and 20,000 places via the co-operation entry route. The latter entry route is likely to be targeted to hill and commonage areas and a straightforward workable scheme will be required to entice farmers to participate.

- Darren Carty, sheep and schemes editor