Macra na Feirme presented its policy paper to the EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan in Brussels on Wednesday evening, ahead of its formal Brussels launch in the EU Parliament on Thursday morning.

The document was produced following a series of regional meetings, where Macra members were invited to participate in highlighting their priorities for the next CAP. The findings from these meetings were then collated and put together in a 32-page report identifying the Macra priorities. It focuses on the case for continued CAP support for farming, but doesn’t call for an ending of CAP payments to farmers once they reach pension age. Insteadit suggests a hybrid model based on a business plan for succession.

Policy on reitrement

Some of the policy recommendations include a move away from focusing aid on retirement grounds to farmers exiting agriculture and shifting concentration to farm succession.

Macra na Feirme has developed a farm succession proposal which would be funded under the Rural Development Programme. The proposal suggests that upon reaching 63, it becomes mandatory for all farmers to complete a farm succession plan. From the age of 65 to 70, farmers will receive a transition payment in order to both facilitate and support their exit from the industry. Farmers that wish to continue to receive a CAP payment beyond the age of 70 would need to get involved in a collaborative arrangement.

Sustainable farming

Following the handover, the Commissioner and the Macra delegation joined a meeting of CEJA, the Brussels-based EU young farmers organisation that is made up of young farmer associations from across the EU. The meeting also included Copa Cogeca, the Brussels umbrella organisation for farmers associations from member states, and CEPF, the forestry owner’s representative body.

The theme of the meeting was a follow on from the Cork 2.0 declaration of “A better life in rural areas” under the title of “Acting big for rural development.”

The Commissioner was the keynote speaker and he reaffirmed his commitment to Cork 2.0 and while saying things may have to be done a bit differently, his view was that there had to be a “sustainable farmer to ensure there is a sustainable environment". He told the audience of the list of expectations of public goods his fellow commissioners expected farmers to deliver. Such was the list, he believed the only crowd that could deliver it was in fact farmers.

The Macra policy document has its Brussels launch in the EU Parliament on Thursday morning followed by an Irish launch in Buswell’s Hotel at Tuesday, 28 March.

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