The consultation opened in March and ended on Tuesday and the Commission has published initial statistics on the 320,000 responses received.

Although Ireland accounts for nearly 1% of the EU’s population and more than 1% of its farmers, only 0.5% of responses to the consultation came from this country.

Participation was even lower from the UK, which will not be covered by the next CAP after Brexit.

Nearly half of responses came from Germany. France, the largest agricultural producer in the EU, accounted for 12.5% of contributions, in line with its population weight. The third largest contributor was Italy, with 11.9% of responses.

The Commission said that the aim of the consultation was “to encourage a structured debate with all types of stakeholders, including non-agricultural actors,” and this is exactly what happened. Nearly 93% of respondents said they were not involved in farming. Outgoing Macra president Sean Finan described the trend as “worrying”.

Nearly all respondents contributed as individual citizens, though the Commission noted that “a number of responses were submitted through various on-line platforms of interest groups”.

Of the 3% who responded on behalf of an organisation, three quarters said they were involved in agriculture, followed by environmental protection (4%).

The Commission has announced a conference on 7 July to present the findings of the consultation, which will be summarised in an online publication. This will feed into an assessment of the current CAP and proposals for agricultural policy from 2020, which the Commission will present by the end of this year. The title of that upcoming publication has already been decided: “Modernising and Simplifying the Common Agricultural Policy”.

IFA submission

The IFA published its own submission to the consultation on Tuesday, insisting on the need to target improvement in farm income levels through direct support. According to the association, the next CAP should also prioritise measures for investment and efficiency, generational renewal and the strengthening of farmers’ position in the supply chain – all while ensuring simplification of CAP schemes, including inspections and cross-compliance.

“To meet these challenges, the CAP Budget must be increased in the next reform,” said IFA chief economist Rowena Dwyer.

Macra presented its own submission on the future of CAP to European Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan in March following a participatory process with its members around the country. Macra’s paper included a focus on gradual retirement schemes to encourage farm succession.

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Irish response to CAP consultation among lowest