Keep active farmer status ‘active’ in next CAP deal, says Galway IFA Chair
One size won’t fit all
KEEPING an ‘active farmer’ classed as an active farmer regardless of age is a condition in the next CAP that Irish farmers would like to keep intact as the country takes control of the Presidency of the Council of the EU from today (Wednesday).
The headline element to the draft proposals for the next CAP would see ringfenced funding for agricultural payments under the EU budget cut by 22 per cent, decreasing from €387billion in CAP 2021-2027 to €300billion in CAP 2028-2034.
Other draft proposals have been highlighted in recent times, including a proposal that farmers getting a State pension in EU member states are to be excluded from receiving direct farm payments by 2032.
“One of the proposals is that a person in receipt of the State pension won’t qualify as an active farmer, and then won’t quality for the Basic (Income Support for Sustainability) payment. We have a fight on our hands on that,” said Micheal Haverty, the Galway IFA Chair.
“It is the IFA’s belief that regardless of age, an active farmer is an active farmer. It will cause contentious issues.
“I don’t like to throw the term around, but there are ‘armchair farmers’ out there who are not doing a lot on the farm. If a farmer is producing food, that has to be recognised and they have to be looked after, regardless of age and if they are working outside the farm.
“It will probably level out the renting of land. There are farmers who are holding onto entitlements when renting land, and the lads who are farming the land are not getting the entitlements from it. The farmer who is renting it is getting paid rent and also the entitlements.
“It has to be about production and being an active farmer regardless of age. The average age of a farmer is falling between 59 and 60. You could have a scenario in five or six years, where the average farmer has hit 66 and is pulled out of the job if you like under that CAP proposal.”
Another proposal for the next CAP that has caused discussion in the farming sector here relates to farmers being universally paid a flat rate per hectare.
“The production rate per hectare won’t be one size fits all. If you take land in Connacht and on the Western seaboard, in some areas that have very poor marginal land, you can’t compare their production per hectare with land in Kilkenny or Carlow,” said Michael Haverty.
“There is no comparison in what they will be able to produce. That is why it is vital that the ANC (Areas of Natural Constraint) payment is restored. It was the only payment that farmers received for little or no input.
“There was a significant reduction in the ANC in the last economic downturn. At a minimum, it should be restored to pre-2008 levels and possibly be increased to allow for inflation.
“The actual criteria for the CAP itself is all up in the air at the moment. It’s not just a CAP for Ireland, but we certainly need to keep the views and issues of Irish farmers to the fore (during the Presidency) and there are a certain amount of mirrors issues throughout the EU.”
Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the EU runs from July 1 to the end of December. Planning and chairing meetings of the Council of the EU is one of the roles that Ireland will perform during the coming six months.