IFA officers weigh in on organics, entitlements and dropping production

The Department of Agriculture held the first of its farmer information meetings in Mullingar on Thursday 3 March.

Farmers speaking after the meeting welcomed the opportunity to put their questions to Department officials and have their queries relating to the new schemes clarified.

Changes to entitlement values, the Organic Farming Scheme for 2023 and the eight ppoposed eco-scheme measures were the feature of many farmers’ queries during the meeting’s question and answer session.

After the meeting had wrapped up, three local Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) officers gave their opinions of the new CAP and the strategic plan’s scheme proposals to the Irish Farmers Journal.

Certified organic farmer John Curran keeps 50 sucklers, along with some tillage outside Navan, Co Meath.

Curran brings all progeny to finish, runs a flock of 150 ewes and grows food oats for Flahavan’s. Turkeys are also reared on the farm to supply the organic turkey market at Christmas.

Curran welcomed the Department’s indication that organic farmers would be supported, with senior inspector in the Department’s organic division Jack Nolan telling farmers that there would be “plenty of room and plenty of money” in 2023's Organic Farming Scheme.

“The commentary from the Department for organics was very positive. Jack Nolan was here and he was very positive, I was happy with what he was saying. There are big opportunities there with the budget that is available to get more farmers into organic farming,” said the Co Meath farmer.

Payments and paperwork

The Department has proposed higher payment rates for organic dairy farmers than organic drystock farmers in the new CAP. Equivalence in payment rates should be reached, Curran said.

The organic chair also stated that the amount of paperwork associated with applying for new schemes seems likely to increase, given the number of schemes laid out in the strategic plan.

“The payment rate for the dairy farmers is good as it stands, but there are still issues in getting into [organic] dairying. Access to organic cows or heifers would be a challenge and there is the issue of getting a co-op that handles organic milk.

“On the cattle and sheep payments, the payments are too low. The rates for drystock farmers should be taken up to the same level as dairy at the very least.

“You are going to have to apply for every single scheme that’s there. Instead of applying for one or two less schemes, we will end up applying for one or two more,” he concluded.

Tillage farmer Dermot Ward thought the Department could have provided more eco-scheme options specifically orientated towards the tillage sector.

He also gave his thoughts on the changes that will affect those leasing entitlements, changes which he said would affect tillage farmers in particular.

“I think that farmers that entered into long-term leases will be at a huge disadvantage going forward because they have already agreed prices for five maybe even 10 years to lease and the whole existing price structure has changed,” said Ward after the meeting in Mullingar.

“The eco schemes need to become more tillage farmer-friendly. I think we need to be looking for a special tillage scheme for tillage farmers, a special eco scheme aimed at tillage farmers, regarding especially the sequestration of carbon,” stated Ward.

Tweaks and consultation

“The scheme itself, there are tweaks that are needed and maybe a little more consultation,” he said on the proposed eco-scheme measures.

“I certainly think we will need to know the bones of the scheme by the Ploughing match, but you wonder with the situation regarding Ukraine, will there be some tweaking of the draft plan sent to Brussels.

“The CAP strategic plan has been designed over the past three to four years and, gosh, a lot of things have happened in the past three to four weeks,” the Co Meath chair concluded.

Suckler and sheep farmer Gavin White told the Irish Farmers Journal that the meeting was informative and the opportunity to pose questions to the Department had been helpful.

He commented that the overall impression he had gotten from the presentation was that the Department would be encouraging farmers to scale back production in favour of environmental measures.

“The meeting was very informative and very well presented by the Department of Agriculture’s people,” White acknowledged.

“It seems to be an encouragement of more greening, more environmental things and maybe encouraging people to produce less, which in the current times with food security, might not be just the right way to go.”

Fertiliser and organics

White said that there would be a wide variation in the decisions made by farmers in the midlands regarding production and environmental schemes.

He commented that while fertiliser usage can be scaled back in some instances, spread fertiliser is set to remain cheaper than forage purchased from another farm in the case of shortages.

“Not every farmer is just going to relax back and draw money,” he continued.

“If farmers don’t use fertiliser as normal, we will be running into a fodder crisis next winter,” he finished.