Current Greening requirements are too low to make a significant impact on the environment, according to the 2017 European Court of Auditors report.
“We concluded that greening was unlikely to lead to significant improvements to the environment and the climate,” the report reads.
“We concluded that the Commission had not specified what greening measures were expected to achieve.
“We also concluded that there was a significant amount of deadweight, and that requirements were low.”
There was a significant amount of deadweight
The report recommended that targets should be performance-based and grounded on scientific research in order to set specific targets.
The European Commission accepted the auditors recommendations in substance but stated that they adopted a new proposal in June this year “which develops the intervention logic of a new set of environmental and climate-related instruments of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)".
It adds weight to indications that the next CAP will be driven by increased environmental targets, with smaller localised schemes.
Young farmers
The report also insisted that generational renewal remained a major European issue for Member States.
“We concluded that the objectives and expected results of EU support to young farmers were not well-defined. We recommended that the intervention logic should be improved,” the report says.
Young farmers are entitled to a grant top-up of 25% on their Basic Payment with approximately €19.7m issued by the Department of Agriculture to date.
However, there is still controversy over a subsect of “forgotten farmers”, who are under 40 but who have now been farming too long to receive payments.
The European Commission offered to relax the rules so Member States could permit funding to this subsect, however Ireland only extended retrospective funding to young farmers who started farming in 2014 – still missing the tranche who had started farming between 2010 and 2013.
In total, approximately 4,400 young farmers are missing out on receiving young farmer grants.
Total amount paid under European payments in 2017 -
Basic payment scheme - €17.5bnSingle area payment scheme - €4.1bnGreening - €11.8bnCoupled support (linked to beef, veal, milk or protein crops) - €3.9bn Read more
Mayo farmer claims first Biodiversity Farmer of the Year title
‘Young farmers crucial to the vitality of rural areas’
Current Greening requirements are too low to make a significant impact on the environment, according to the 2017 European Court of Auditors report.
“We concluded that greening was unlikely to lead to significant improvements to the environment and the climate,” the report reads.
“We concluded that the Commission had not specified what greening measures were expected to achieve.
“We also concluded that there was a significant amount of deadweight, and that requirements were low.”
There was a significant amount of deadweight
The report recommended that targets should be performance-based and grounded on scientific research in order to set specific targets.
The European Commission accepted the auditors recommendations in substance but stated that they adopted a new proposal in June this year “which develops the intervention logic of a new set of environmental and climate-related instruments of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)".
It adds weight to indications that the next CAP will be driven by increased environmental targets, with smaller localised schemes.
Young farmers
The report also insisted that generational renewal remained a major European issue for Member States.
“We concluded that the objectives and expected results of EU support to young farmers were not well-defined. We recommended that the intervention logic should be improved,” the report says.
Young farmers are entitled to a grant top-up of 25% on their Basic Payment with approximately €19.7m issued by the Department of Agriculture to date.
However, there is still controversy over a subsect of “forgotten farmers”, who are under 40 but who have now been farming too long to receive payments.
The European Commission offered to relax the rules so Member States could permit funding to this subsect, however Ireland only extended retrospective funding to young farmers who started farming in 2014 – still missing the tranche who had started farming between 2010 and 2013.
In total, approximately 4,400 young farmers are missing out on receiving young farmer grants.
Total amount paid under European payments in 2017 -
Basic payment scheme - €17.5bnSingle area payment scheme - €4.1bnGreening - €11.8bnCoupled support (linked to beef, veal, milk or protein crops) - €3.9bn Read more
Mayo farmer claims first Biodiversity Farmer of the Year title
‘Young farmers crucial to the vitality of rural areas’
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