The new European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Christophe Hansen and Ireland’s new agriculture minister Martin Heydon are both behind bolstering the next CAP budget.

In separate interviews with the Irish Farmers Journal, Hansen and Heydon acknowledged the frustration farmers have with the shrinking of CAP funds.

Commissioner Hansen said he would “pledge for more” and back an increase in the CAP budget in line with inflation. He also believes there should be a separate fund for environmental demands of farmers.

Minister Heydon said: “We’ve seen the eroding of CAP from what it was originally set up to do.”

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