This is a subscriber-only article
Launched at Ploughing 2017, Modernising and Simplifying the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), outlines that red-tape for farmers must be reduced, there should be increased money in the CAP budget and cross-border trade must continue post-Brexit.
Reducing red-tape would reduce the administrative burden and compliance costs on farmers, Fianna Fáil said.
“The addition of a plethora of highly bureaucratic schemes has added hugely to farmers’ costs and led to a lengthy delay in the issuing of payments, e.g. GLAS.
“More and more complicated rules on farm schemes has led to an explosion in compliance costs and reduced the net financial benefit of many schemes to farmers,” the document reads.
Increased CAP budget
Fianna Fáil has said that there must be ambition for the current CAP budget to be increased post-2020 and to reverse the cuts made in the 2014-2020 CAP package.
While a UK exit from the EU will leave a €3bn hole in the CAP budget, the remaining 27 EU countries need to show solidarity with their primary producers and secure the livelihoods of 22m farmers across the continent by making additional contributions, according to the document.
Listen to an interview with Fianna Fáil's agriculture spokesman Charlie McConalogue in our podcast below:
The party also said that the CAP payment ceiling should be reduced in the next CAP and that future CAP reforms should permit member states to decide on the capping of direct payments at national level.
In Ireland, the party believes that the current payment ceiling should be reduced from €150,000 under the Basic Payment Scheme to €60,000.
It said that this is in order to ensure that future CAP funds safeguard farmers on smaller holdings, with entitlements following the 10% cut in direct payments negotiated under the 2014-2020 CAP deal.
Basic Payment Scheme
Fianna Fáil believes that funding for the Basic Payment Scheme (including Greening) should be strengthened to reward farmers actively involved in agriculture.
In this way, member states and European decision makers need to ensure that cuts to the last CAP budget are reversed to achieve this objective.
Meanwhile, on Areas of Natural Constraints, it said that additional financial resources are necessary.
Climate change
With agriculture in 2050 expected to need to produce almost 50% more food, feed and biofuel than it did in 2012, Fianna Fáil has said the high sequestration potential of the grass-based agriculture production model in Ireland should be accounted for in the calculation of emissions.
This would be in order to compensate for the level of agricultural emissions.
Young farmers
On young farmers, it said: “Support must be built across Member States that the next CAP ensures all farmers under 40 have access to the same entitlements regardless of when they started farming in order to remove the current discriminatory set up.”
Brexit
On Brexit, the party said that it is imperative that common market measures and revenue streams in CAP regulations are strengthened further to provide for exceptional financial aid measures against severe market disturbances.
“It is vital that agreement is sought at EU level for the review of state aid rules for enterprises”, it said.
SHARING OPTIONS: