IFA National Grain Committee chairman Liam Dunne called on the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney to take immediate action to ensure that leased SFP entitlements are not lost in the changeover from the existing CAP (which ends this year) to the new scheme in 2015.

Liam Dunne said: “Under the current EU proposals, entitlements leased out under a Private Contract Lease Clause (PCC) will be lost both to the owner and the active farmer claiming them, unless the owner had claimed one or more entitlements in his/her own right in 2013. The failure by the Department to resolve this situation in Brussels and issue clear guidance is causing major upheaval in the land and entitlement leasing market.”

He said: “Unless immediately addressed, this will result in financial loss for many and severely damage confidence in land leasing. This will have significant long-term consequences for land mobility, restructuring and future agricultural growth.

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‘‘It will negatively affect farm output and expansion programmes, particularly for productive dairy, beef and tillage farmers. It will also restrict land availability for young farmers. It will undermine existing business, financial and banking arrangements, with possible legal implications for all affected parties,’’ Dunne said.

Expectation

Lessors and lessees who enter into a PCC have a legitimate expectation that the contract would be honoured in full and that both their respective positions would be fully protected. Both farmers and SFP entitlement owners had entered into a PCC on the advice of the Department of Agriculture. “It is critical that the Minister moves to resolve this untenable situation immediately, avoiding further disruption which will negatively affect production and targets set out under Food Harvest 2020,” Dunne concluded.

Meeting with Minister

IFA president Eddie Downey has held his first meeting with the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney at which he highlighted farmer concerns on a number of pressing issues. On the new Rural Development Plan, IFA will be looking for flexibility in the agri-environment scheme to maximise participation and minimise costs.

IFA president at Clare meeting

IFA president Eddie Downey attended the recent Clare IFA County Executive meeting as the guest speaker. On rural security, he said Garda patrols need to be more frequent in rural communities and it is important that high visibility is maintained in remote areas.

Livestock meeting

Westmeath IFA will hold a livestock meeting at the Bloomfield House Hotel, Mullingar, on 4 February at 8pm. The aim is to give livestock farmers an indication of how the CAP agreement, including Pillar II funding, will affect their farming business. Guest speakers include IFA director of livestock Kevin Kinsella and Bord Bia’s Joe Burke.

Bull beef meeting

President Eddie Downey led an IFA delegation to meet Meat Industry Ireland and senior representatives of meat factories in Dublin on the difficulties for bull beef producers. After the meeting, Eddie Downey said IFA made it clear that prices must stabilise and the bull kill must increase to help alleviate the difficulties.

Ferdia Farmers Co-op AGM in Dublin

Ferdia Farmers Co-operative Society Ltd AGM will take place at 7pm on Wednesday, 5 February at The Irish Farm Centre, Bluebell, Dublin 12.

Co-ops must minimise costs to farmers

IFA National Dairy Committee chairman Sean O’Leary called on all co-ops, which are planning for capacity development or other investment up to 2015 or in the post quota era, to keep their cost to farmer shareholders to the absolute minimum.

He said that ongoing reviews of development plans to identify changing needs and alternative resources, and structuring any farmer contribution vehicle in a tax-efficient manner, would help in this regard.