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The EU must complete a full impact assessment of the farm to fork and biodiversity strategies, as farmers cannot be left to carry the can on this, IFA president Tim Cullinan has said.
The comments came after a meeting of European farm leaders with EU executive vice president Frans Timmermans on Thursday.
Cullinan said: “I told the Commissioner a full impact assessment is needed to determine how much implementing these strategies will cost. People are quoting these targets without any consideration for their impact on output or costs for farmers.
“Frans Timmermans has threatened to withdraw the Commission’s own CAP proposal if it doesn’t take more account of the farm to fork and biodiversity strategies. Yet, he has no idea how much these strategies will cost.”
Reduced income
The IFA has called on Teagasc to do an assessment of the impact of the strategies on Ireland.
Cullinan continued: “It’s incredible that the economic research service of the US Department of Agriculture has examined the impact of farm to fork strategy on farm incomes, output and trade and neither the EU nor Ireland has.
“The US report predicts that, as a result of the strategy, farm incomes would be reduced by 16%. This is as a consequence of the expected loss of production by 12% across the EU, which would not be offset by the 17% increase in market prices.”
The report predicts a loss in output at an EU level, which would cause exports to fall by 20% and imports would increase by 2%. Changes in trade are predicted to increase the cost of food by €132 per person in the EU.
“If these figures are correct, they would be devastating for European farmers. Yet, the EU Commission doesn’t know, or won’t tell us, what their assessment of the impact will be,” Cullinan concluded.
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