The first CAP reform I can remember being really interested in was the reforms around 2003/2004, often referred to as the Fischler reforms.

I was just finishing college at the time and I can remember the debates and arguments around the merits and pitfalls of decoupling and what it meant for the future of Irish agriculture.

I remember listening to some of those debates at the time with a genuine worry about what the future was going to hold for Irish farmers.

ADVERTISEMENT

A number of reforms have come and gone since then and all of them have come with a degree of trepidation and worry about the future of farming.

We’ve come through them all with various sectors winning and losing, but most farming systems have continued despite the changes and movement of supports to different types of farming.

The current reform has a different feel to it, and the mood music hasn’t been good from the very start around the budget and the proposed cuts to the budget currently on the table.

Agenda

There have been many items high on the agricultural agenda over the last few months: the nitrates derogation, the Mercosur trade deal, Larry Murrin and the fuel protests, but they all come in underneath the impact that a 22% CAP budget cut will have on Irish farmers.

Darren Carty, Pat O’Toole and Noel Bardon, our resident CAP specialists in the Irish Farmers Journal, are currently wading their way through the complex funding mechanisms and plans ahead of the rollout of our special CAP series due to kick off next month.

It is impossible to overstate just how fundamental CAP is to Irish farming. Close to €2 bn annually is received by Irish farmers and rural communities, with 120,000 beneficiaries across a wide range of sectors.

Some of those sectors wouldn’t be able to farm were it not for CAP, so any cut to the budget is of huge significance to the industry.

The vast majority of suckler farmers have over 100% of their income coming from CAP payments. Everything else that has made the headlines in the last number of months pales into insignificance compared to a 22% cut to the CAP budget.

The big shift is towards defence spending, with eastern European states putting huge pressure on the EU to increase defence spending given the threat of Vladimir Putin in neighbouring Russia.

Post-war CAP policy in 1962 included guaranteeing the availability of food supplies and establishing a secure supply chain, and in today’s world we shouldn’t forget that.

Indeed, supporting European food production is a form of defence spending in times when the transportation of fertiliser and grain can very easily be weaponised.

Post-war CAP policy in 1962 included guaranteeing the availability of food supplies and establishing a secure supply chain, and in today’s world we shouldn’t forget that

Our Government finds itself in a position of strength, holding the EU presidency for the second half of 2026 when discussions ramp up on an agreement on the Multi Annual Financial Framework or, in other words, the CAP budget.

At the moment, it is probably fanciful thinking that it will be finalised by the end of 2026, but Ireland will in no doubt have a big influence on the outcome.