Two things strike me from the CAP vision document released yesterday (Wednesday). The first is the seemingly continuing direction of full convergence or flattening of payments, irrespective of production. There is some mention of farmers that actively engage in food production, with a focus on young farmers and those farming in areas of natural constraints.

There is talk of incentives rather than conditions, however, all that for me is ‘stay on the same road’ type language. It definitely doesn’t shout a change of direction that food security is more important now. If the EU takes this vision line, then all our institutions will take the same attitude, direction and policy.

The alternative would be to encourage high-quality, high environmental status food production and real productivity, merged with real environmental sustainability.

The second point that grabbed me is the language around the Commission’s proposal for a comprehensive simplification package. This ‘new’ vision will contribute to reducing red tape. The suggestion is it will focus on on-farm simplification, streamlining requirements and support for smaller and medium-sized farms that boosts competitiveness. Again we have heard it all before and the opposite has happened.

Only last week we saw GAEC 2 guidelines established. Really this is now only starting for upwards of 35,000 farmers, or over 650,000 hectares of Irish peat lands. Why push individual member states to implement a set of new rules, additional red tape when a vision supposedly shouts less red tape in the second half of 2025? It is very early days in the discussion around the vision for the next CAP, but I feel we need to see a bit more of an attitude shift that ranks high-quality food, produced sustainably and securely, higher up the list of priorities. Some aspects of society might be nice to have, but are not as essential as food.