The unprecedented reduction in ringfenced CAP funds planned by the European Commission risks pushing EU countries like Ireland down the path of having fewer but larger farms, midlands northwest MEP Maria Walsh has warned.

The warning comes as the future of the EU budget lies with member states conscious that any reversal of that planned spending chop for farmers will require them to divert more of their national tax takes to Brussels than heads there currently.

Walsh voiced concern that this cut to ringfenced farmer funds – combined with a merging of CAP’s currently standalone budget with other non-agricultural programmes – could leave Europe on track to see the consolidation model witnessed across the US.

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The Fine Gael MEP said to a conference of elected representatives hosted by the Oireachtas in Dublin Castle on Monday that these two post-2027 proposals represent “red lines” for all groups in the European Parliament, as she raised the issue as the “elephant in the room” on discussions around farm succession.

“This matters to agriculture policy for its own sake. If you take a backdrop of an aging farming population without successors, that leads to land abandonment, farm consolidation into fewer and fewer hands and a narrowing of the production base to feeds this continent,” the MEP told elected representatives from right across Europe.

“Equally, I'm terrified that we wake up like middle America, large conglomerates buying up big farm practices or creating big farm practices, taking away the real DNA and identity that we have in our own member states like Ireland and many others of farm families and growing farm co-operatives.”

Real teeth

On generational renewal, an issue on which Walsh led up a report for the European Parliament’s agriculture committee, the MEP said that “real teeth and ambition” must come in the next CAP to hit young farmer targets that have already been floated.

She is pushing for 10% of the 2028-2034 CAP to be dedicated to young farmers, for the Commission’s plans to axe direct payments for farmers receiving pensions to be shelved and a clear active farmer definition to ensure funds only go to genuine farmers.

“Importantly, incentives rather than penalties to encourage timely and dignified farm succession, paired with secure pension arrangements for those stepping back or simply transitioning their knowledge over to a younger generation,” Walsh said.