Our case study this week is in many ways an average farmer. Tommy O’Brien has an average size holding at 32ha in 2002 when we meet him. He has an average-size suckler herd – 14 cows, and an average size sheep flock with 100 ewes.

Twenty-two hectares of Tommy’s land is lowland and mostly decent ground. The other 10ha is a one-thirtieth share in a commonage of 300ha, where his mountain ewe flock spend their summers.

Tommy is an efficient farmer, who knows how to get the best from his land. His effective stocking rate is about 1.05LU /ha, which considering almost one-third of his land is commonage is efficient management.

He sells top-quality weanlings and store lambs in the local mart every autumn and then faces into the long winter with his cows and ewes. He doesn’t claim the nine- or 22-month special beef premium.

Tommy’s total direct payments in 2002 is made up of suckler cow payments plus extensification, a slaughter premium for a cull cow, and ewe premium at €29/head, which includes the Rural World Premium top-up received by farmers in disadvantaged areas. There was also a payment of €60 for each of two dry heifer replacements from the national envelope.

This gave Tommy a total payment of €7,356, with his 32 entitlements having a value of €230 each in 2005.

Ciolos reforms

The rhetoric around the Ciolos reforms was for redistribution, so how did Tommy fare out? It didn’t impact much on his payment at all, up or down. The linear cut due to budget reductions left Tommy with entitlements worth €224 in 2014.

Under convergence, he did gain a little each year through to 2019, but as his entitlements were only €45 under the national average, the gains were small.

As a result, in 2019, his total payment had increased to €7,616, less than €300 of an increase in a decade. That’s €6 a week.

Tommy O’Brien’s sheep flock qualifies for the ewe welfare scheme.

Current proposals

Will the current proposals work any better for Tommy? Again, he starts out having suffered a cut in his payment due to a small fall in the budget. This will happen all farmers’ payments, and it is happening this year.

Tommy’s starting position is €7,456, exactly €100 up on where he was 16 years ago. In 2023, Tommy’s BISS (the new term for the basic payment) entitlements will be cut to €153/ha, to fund CRISS (front-loading), eco schemes, the national reserve and the young farmer fund.

In addition to his BISS, Tommy will receive a CRISS front-loaded payment of €22/ha on his first 30ha. This pays Tommy €660. We are assuming he will qualify for the eco-scheme payment at €64/ha, which means an additional €2,048 each year.

Convergence

Again, Tommy’s BISS of €153/ha is under the national average of €178, but quite close to it.

As a result, convergence will increase his payment between 2023 and 2026, but not by much.

I’m calculating his BISS will increase by €1.50 a year, giving him a BISS per hectare of €159 in 2026.

This model, like previous models, is based on the Department’s most likely scenario involving CRISS at 5%, paid on the first 30ha, convergence at 85% and eco schemes at 25%.

Overall payment

The net effect of all this is that Tommy is pretty much back where he started. His overall payment in 2023 is €7,652, while in 2026 it’s €7,796. This is €440 higher than the payment he generated almost 20 years ago.

Why is CRISS making so little difference? Well, Tommy has “donated” 5% of his current entitlements to the CRISS fund. That’s €11.35/ha from 32ha, a total of €363, meaning he is only gaining €300 from front-loading.

Other schemes

Tommy is in receipt of disadvantaged area payment on all his land. He also has participated in agri-environmental schemes, including REPS, AEOS and GLAS.

His suckler herd is part of the BGDP and BEEP schemes, and his sheep flock qualifies for the ewe welfare scheme. Like Paddy last week, Tommy is maximising the income he can receive from support schemes.

BGDP is worth €1,270, BEEP a further €1,080, while GLAS Plus is worth a further €7,000 a year. The ewe welfare payment – at €10/head – adds a further €1,000.

The annual ANC payment across his mix of Category 1 land (the commonage) and Category 3 land (his lowland) totals €3,460.

This brings his total other payments to €13,810. It must be remembered that costs are incurred through participation in these schemes, just as they did for Paddy last week.

Farm profile

Tommy O’Brien

  • 32ha.
  • 22ha lowland.
  • 10ha commonage.
  • 14 sucklers.
  • Selling all young stock as weanlings.
  • Not claiming nine- or 22-month premia on young stock.
  • 100 ewes.