Potato farmers losing out

A NUMBER of farmers have withdrawn from potato production because they want to consolidate their Single Payment, according to IFA.

Potato growers who went ahead and consolidated, or "stacked" entitlements, say they have lost up to €17,000 of the annual Single Payment, because entitlements cannot be activated on potato land.

IFA sources have now revealed that they initially welcomed the non-availability of entitlements on potato land, as a way of preventing an influx into potato growing.

But they are now pressing to make the full benefits of consolidation available to both potato and vegetable growers.

"When one consolidates, one's entitlements are given up to the national reserve. One's entitlements are then returned to one, spread evenly over all the land available to one in the year in question. In the case of a potato farmer, that will include potato land.

"An entitlement will be allocated in respect of the land, but the grower will be unable to activate the entitlement because it pertains to potato land. Therefore, he or she will lose that entitlement to the national reserve", explained the IFA National Potato Committee secretary, Kieran Leddy, in a recent presentation to the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food.

"The IFA National Potato Committee is aware of a number of cases of farmers ceasing their involvement in potato production to facilitate consolidation," he said.

According to Thomas Carpenter of the committee, problems also loom for those who grow a significant percentage of Ireland's potatoes and vegetables on rented lands, because they will be unable to draw any entitlements attached to such lands.

He warned of rotational problems due to concentration of vegetable and potato growing on certain portions of land.

However, sugar beet growers are not affected.

Potato Committee chairman John Sheridan said growers need clearance to draw down entitlements on potato land as soon as possible, in time for the acquisition of land for next year's sowings.

But they face tricky circumstances in Brussels, admitted Kieran Leddy, because very few countries have adopted Ireland's system of total decoupling.

Payments are made in respect of almost all land, including potato land, in England and Northern Ireland, and countries like Portugal and Belgium, do not want the potato entitlements rules changed.