The proposal to subsume the Grassland Sheep Scheme payment into an applicant’s Single Farm Payment (SFP) has been met with strong opposition from flockowners and farm organisations.
In simple terms, it means that the sum of money an applicant receives under the 2014 scheme will be added to their SFP and included when calculating base entitlements under the new CAP 2014-2019 (Pillar I payments).
Progressing down this route will essentially signal the end of the Grassland Sheep Scheme as the payment will no longer be linked to the number of ewes an applicant possesses.
It will also mean that a percentage of the funding a farmer receives could be lost between 2014 and 2019 through convergence.
Open to change
Speaking at the recent Teagasc National Sheep Conference, Minister Coveney said he was aware farmers were attracted to the Grassland Sheep Scheme and, as such, the Department of Agriculture had taken steps to strengthen the scheme by increasing available funding from €13m in 2013 to €15m in 2014.
However, the Minister was, and remains, coy on finding a workable solution.
He has said on more than one occasion that he is open to change, welcoming submissions from farmers and farm organisations.
But it appears possible alternatives investigated since then have been deemed unworkable.
The timeframe to find a solution is closing fast with the Minister signalling Easter as the end of the consultation period.
Possible options
The potential to continue the scheme in its current format was dismissed immediately, as the scheme was funded by unspent CAP funds which the Minister has said are not likely to be available in the coming years.
The Minister is also strongly opposed to a coupled payment, stating at the conference that decoupling was not a realistic option for Ireland.
He suggested that it would be bureaucratic and increase form-filling and also stated that, once you couple a scheme for one sector, you have people looking for it in another sector.
The possibility of transferring funds from Pillar 1 to Pillar 2 and using these to finance a new type of scheme has also reportedly been met with opposition.
Damaging effects
The downsides of not finding a workable solution are very real.
While the Grassland Sheep Scheme was never seen as an incentive by farmers to increase numbers significantly, or an enticement to enter the sector, it was a very good motivation to flockowners to at least stabilise numbers.
The decline in the breeding ewe flock (Figure 2) was halted in 2009 with some recovery in 2010, the first year of the Grassland Sheep Scheme.
Numbers have recovered considerably since then with the breeding ewe flock increasing from 2.2m ewes in December 2010 to 2.47m ewes in 2012 (see Figure 1).
As seen in Table 1, steady growth was recorded in the ewe flock in every county between 2010 and 2012.
It would be naive to think that the Grassland Sheep Scheme was solely responsible for a lift of this magnitude. However, along with an improvement in market returns, it helped put a floor under ewe numbers and build a platform for flock recovery.
A big factor in sheep farmers’ opposition to the current proposals is that future payments will no longer be linked to current flock numbers.
This means there will be no incentive, or requirement, for flockowners to maintain numbers with the means for rewarding those who stay in the sector disappearing.
Finding a workable solution that allows funds to be maintained and targeted to active sheep farmers, as is the case with the current scheme, will allow payment rates to be increased if flock numbers reduce.
Alternatively, the maximum of 210 ewes eligible for payment could be increased to reward larger flock sizes if more funds become available.
IFA reaction
Following a meeting last week with the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney, IFA Sheep Committee chairman John Lynskey said the proposal to incorporate the Grassland Sheep Scheme into the Single Farm Payment of flockowners was a problem for the sheep sector as it erodes the additional value and benefit of the scheme and this will have to be addressed.
“We have told the Minister the original €18m value of the scheme must be reinstated and be fully protected to sheep farmers in order to maintain the national ewe flock and the payments to farmers cannot be diluted through convergence over time,” he said.
He added that the sheep committee is currently contacting their local politicians to help push through a resolution on the scheme.
SCHEME Workings
The scheme introduced initially had a total budget of €54 from unused Single Payment funds split between 2010, 2011 and 2012. The scheme was designed to reduce administration and included three simple requirements:
1) Maintain ewes;
2) Complete the sheep census return;
3) Submit a Single Payment Scheme (SPS) application by the yearly closing date.
Ewe numbers eligible for inclusion in 2010 were based on the ewe numbers declared in the 2009 sheep census. For subsequent years, ewe numbers were based on the average of ewe numbers entered in the two preceding sheep census returns. For example, the number of eligible ewes in 2014 will be based on the average of the sheep census returns for 2013 and 2012. The rate payable was based on the lower of; the number of eligible hectares submitted in the SPS application or the area deemed eligible for payment using the following two stocking densities;
2.5 ewes per hectare for Mountain Type Grazing Land (as defined under the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme);7 ewes per hectare for all other lands (including Most Severely, Less Severely Disadvantaged Area and non-Disadvantaged Areas).The maximum area payable for mountain type grazing is 84 hectares with 30 hectares for all other lands with payment rates as follows. This means the maximum payable to a flock owner on mountain grazing was €2,200 with all other lands paid a maximum of €2,100 on a total of 30 hectares or 210 ewes.
Mountain Areas (0 to 20 hectares) : €30 per hectare;Mountain Areas (20 to 84 hectares): €25 per hectare;Lowland Areas: €70 per hectare.
The proposal to subsume the Grassland Sheep Scheme payment into an applicant’s Single Farm Payment (SFP) has been met with strong opposition from flockowners and farm organisations.
In simple terms, it means that the sum of money an applicant receives under the 2014 scheme will be added to their SFP and included when calculating base entitlements under the new CAP 2014-2019 (Pillar I payments).
Progressing down this route will essentially signal the end of the Grassland Sheep Scheme as the payment will no longer be linked to the number of ewes an applicant possesses.
It will also mean that a percentage of the funding a farmer receives could be lost between 2014 and 2019 through convergence.
Open to change
Speaking at the recent Teagasc National Sheep Conference, Minister Coveney said he was aware farmers were attracted to the Grassland Sheep Scheme and, as such, the Department of Agriculture had taken steps to strengthen the scheme by increasing available funding from €13m in 2013 to €15m in 2014.
However, the Minister was, and remains, coy on finding a workable solution.
He has said on more than one occasion that he is open to change, welcoming submissions from farmers and farm organisations.
But it appears possible alternatives investigated since then have been deemed unworkable.
The timeframe to find a solution is closing fast with the Minister signalling Easter as the end of the consultation period.
Possible options
The potential to continue the scheme in its current format was dismissed immediately, as the scheme was funded by unspent CAP funds which the Minister has said are not likely to be available in the coming years.
The Minister is also strongly opposed to a coupled payment, stating at the conference that decoupling was not a realistic option for Ireland.
He suggested that it would be bureaucratic and increase form-filling and also stated that, once you couple a scheme for one sector, you have people looking for it in another sector.
The possibility of transferring funds from Pillar 1 to Pillar 2 and using these to finance a new type of scheme has also reportedly been met with opposition.
Damaging effects
The downsides of not finding a workable solution are very real.
While the Grassland Sheep Scheme was never seen as an incentive by farmers to increase numbers significantly, or an enticement to enter the sector, it was a very good motivation to flockowners to at least stabilise numbers.
The decline in the breeding ewe flock (Figure 2) was halted in 2009 with some recovery in 2010, the first year of the Grassland Sheep Scheme.
Numbers have recovered considerably since then with the breeding ewe flock increasing from 2.2m ewes in December 2010 to 2.47m ewes in 2012 (see Figure 1).
As seen in Table 1, steady growth was recorded in the ewe flock in every county between 2010 and 2012.
It would be naive to think that the Grassland Sheep Scheme was solely responsible for a lift of this magnitude. However, along with an improvement in market returns, it helped put a floor under ewe numbers and build a platform for flock recovery.
A big factor in sheep farmers’ opposition to the current proposals is that future payments will no longer be linked to current flock numbers.
This means there will be no incentive, or requirement, for flockowners to maintain numbers with the means for rewarding those who stay in the sector disappearing.
Finding a workable solution that allows funds to be maintained and targeted to active sheep farmers, as is the case with the current scheme, will allow payment rates to be increased if flock numbers reduce.
Alternatively, the maximum of 210 ewes eligible for payment could be increased to reward larger flock sizes if more funds become available.
IFA reaction
Following a meeting last week with the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney, IFA Sheep Committee chairman John Lynskey said the proposal to incorporate the Grassland Sheep Scheme into the Single Farm Payment of flockowners was a problem for the sheep sector as it erodes the additional value and benefit of the scheme and this will have to be addressed.
“We have told the Minister the original €18m value of the scheme must be reinstated and be fully protected to sheep farmers in order to maintain the national ewe flock and the payments to farmers cannot be diluted through convergence over time,” he said.
He added that the sheep committee is currently contacting their local politicians to help push through a resolution on the scheme.
SCHEME Workings
The scheme introduced initially had a total budget of €54 from unused Single Payment funds split between 2010, 2011 and 2012. The scheme was designed to reduce administration and included three simple requirements:
1) Maintain ewes;
2) Complete the sheep census return;
3) Submit a Single Payment Scheme (SPS) application by the yearly closing date.
Ewe numbers eligible for inclusion in 2010 were based on the ewe numbers declared in the 2009 sheep census. For subsequent years, ewe numbers were based on the average of ewe numbers entered in the two preceding sheep census returns. For example, the number of eligible ewes in 2014 will be based on the average of the sheep census returns for 2013 and 2012. The rate payable was based on the lower of; the number of eligible hectares submitted in the SPS application or the area deemed eligible for payment using the following two stocking densities;
2.5 ewes per hectare for Mountain Type Grazing Land (as defined under the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme);7 ewes per hectare for all other lands (including Most Severely, Less Severely Disadvantaged Area and non-Disadvantaged Areas).The maximum area payable for mountain type grazing is 84 hectares with 30 hectares for all other lands with payment rates as follows. This means the maximum payable to a flock owner on mountain grazing was €2,200 with all other lands paid a maximum of €2,100 on a total of 30 hectares or 210 ewes.
Mountain Areas (0 to 20 hectares) : €30 per hectare;Mountain Areas (20 to 84 hectares): €25 per hectare;Lowland Areas: €70 per hectare. 
SHARING OPTIONS