Farming incomes ‘face cut of 40%’

Tens of thousands of beef farmers with average-sized holdings will suffer a 40% income cut if the EU brings in its planned flat-rate payment scheme under the CAP, warns IFA president John Bryan.

Calling for public support ahead of Tuesday’s IFA day of action in Dublin, he said the rural development proposals for the new CAP — switching the focus for payments from food output to land ownership — would cause irreparable damage to Ireland’s €24bn agri-food sector. He said the proposals were “damaging for our farmers and Irish agriculture”, and were “regressive and a direct attack on our most productive farmers”.

He stressed the importance for Ireland of retaining the full CAP budget, including €1.25bn for the single farm payment (SFP) and €350m for rural development measures.