Most farmers would prefer not seeing the payment rates of area-based farm schemes lowered in the next CAP to divert funds into coupled payment schemes, according to the results of an Irish Farmers Journal survey.

The European Commission opened the door to a return to headage in its proposals for the 2028-2034 CAP by stating that member states could allocated up to €1 out of every €5 spent on CAP income supports to coupled payments, with even higher funding levels possible for struggling sectors and regions.

Three in every five farmers who took part in the survey indicated that they were opposed to a revival of coupled payments if it meant cutting payment rates in the scheme that will take over the Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS), but the question uncovered differing opinion east and west of the Shannon.

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Opposition was strongest amongst beef finishers, with 65% favouring a strong BISS payment rather than headage.

Dairy emerged as the sector most open to cutting BISS to fund coupled payments, but a slight majority of dairy farmers (52%) still said they were not in favour.

Some 64% of suckler farmers disapproved of the idea of reducing area-based schemes, as did 62% of tillage farmers and 63% of sheep farmers.

Seven-in-10 farmers from Connacht were opposed, as were two-thirds of respondents in Munster, and 46% in Leinster.