Farmers warned to prepare for ‘harsh realities’ of Cap reform

Farmers have been warned to prepare for great change in relation to the “harsh realties” of Common Agricultural Policy reform.

Partly because of problems in translating the amendments into all the EU languages, the agreement deadline was “squeezed” into an intensive 12 weeks, MEP Mairéad McGuinness has told a farming conference in Tralee, where she delivered an up-to-date report on the reforms.

Ms McGuinness, who represents Ireland East, said she was also “extremely worried” about the threat from a bloc of countries to budget discussions which would have a direct effect on the farm reform proposals.