Coupled payments for the tillage sector are still on the table for the new CAP, according to Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon.
The Minister had a frank and open conversation in front of a 350-strong crowd at Tillage Day. The €60m annual payment promised in the election campaign came up once again. It was the €30m payment for two seasons that was the response.
A focus in the conversation was the new CAP and if, as a sector in trouble, tillage could receive the Straw Incorporation Measure, Protein Aid and another coupled support payment.
Speaking at the Irish Farmers Journal’s Tillage Day, Minister Heydon said: “Coupled payments will definitely be in the mix and will be part of negotiations. The final position isn’t agreed. What we’ve agreed is our perspective and we’ve kept coupled payments in there."
“The Protein Aid Scheme, to me, is a very good example of a coupled payment that works well,” the Minister said. “If you are to have coupled payments, the tillage sector is a perfect example of where you would use a coupled payment to support a sector in a positive way.”
However, it is unclear whether this would be put in place alongside existing CAP schemes farmers partake in, like the Straw Incorporation Measure (SIM), Protein Aid Scheme, Tillage Capital Investment Scheme, ACRES and the Farming for Water EIP.
CAP budget
Moreover, with a 24% cut in the CAP budget currently proposed by Brussels, it’s yet to be seen how much of the budget will be directed to the tillage sector.
“That very much depends on the budget,” according to the Minister. “If the budget is down 24% like the current proposals are, well then very hard decisions will have to be made and everything that’s been done by CAP in the past won’t be able to be done in the future.
“What I hope to do is have a sufficient budget and sufficient flexibility to make decisions that best suit our system, and take on board all the views of all the stakeholders and then make decisions that are in the best interest of the Irish tillage sector and beyond.”
Tillage farmers are keen to keep the schemes currently in place that work well. However, Minister Heydon reminded Tillage Day attendees that the European Commission examines these schemes to see whether they’re having the desired effect and if farmers are abiding by the rules of the scheme.
“One thing that would undermine having another scheme [such as SIM] is if the level of non-compliance is too high in a scheme, it’s very hard to justify with the Commission having that scheme again,” he said.
“If we find a very high percentage of farmers continuously applying for SIM and baling up anyway, not incorporating the straw, the Commission will say to us next time, ‘Sorry, that’s been undermined by that.’ So, we actually all own a bit of responsibility to make sure we don’t undermine schemes that work really well and are important.”
