The future of farm payments beyond 2027 looks hugely uncertain amid mounting fears that the European Commission could scrap the Common Agriculture Policy’s (CAP) ringfenced budget.

Proposals for the next long-term EU budget are due in mid-July and the Commission unexpectedly announced last week that its plans for the post-2027 CAP will be unveiled at the same time.

The announcement has unsettled farm organisations across the EU and fuelled expectations that Brussels will press ahead with an unpopular dissolution of the CAP budget in favour of a single all-in EU budget.

IFA president Francie Gorman said any scrapping of dedicated farmer funds would “put a knife through the heart of the CAP”.

Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said he wanted to see the current “structure maintained of a separate fund for the CAP” and that he will “work with like-minded countries” to this end.

EU farm organisations will protest in Brussels on Tuesday next in opposition to the suggested scrapping of the CAP budget.