Installation aid, a farm succession scheme and the ringfencing of at least 6% of Ireland’s CAP spend for young farmers are among the measures Macra is seeking to support the next generation in the next CAP.
Macra is not supporting the European Commission’s plans for a payment cliff edge for thousands of farmers receiving a State pension as it warned that such an “immediate change would send a tsunami through the agricultural sector”.
The young farmers’ group has refreshed its past idea of a farm succession scheme that would see farmers needing to put a farm handover plan in place by the age of 63 to continue receiving CAP payments into retirement, with a requirement to enter a collaborative arrangement with a younger farmer to remain payment-eligible beyond 70.
Macra opted to look for a broad active farmer definition that would consider “anyone who takes responsibility for his or her farming activity, faces inherent risks and makes a living out of it” as being eligible for payment in the next CAP.
It added that the “armchair farmer” issue should be addressed by ensuring that direct payments are not being allocated to “landowners, businesses or organisations who do not perform any farming activity”. Macra stated that it is favour of coupled income support payments, particularly on beef and sheep farms.
SHARING OPTIONS