CAP claims are wrong, says Fischler
He said this was clearly shown in impact studies, two internal and four external, published by the European Commission.
Dr Fischler said the proposal to simplify the present premium system and to free producers from the direct link between number of animals and payments would result in a 3% decline of beef production.
But at the same time, there would be a 7% price increase offsetting the drop in production. Hence, the market revenue of beef producers would increase by 4% and this is what counts.
The commissioner referred to another criticism relating to modulation and its alleged negative impact on farm income.
“They’ve got it wrong again. According to the studies, the full impact of the mid-term review (MTR) is positive with respect to farm income, increasing it by 1.7%,” Dr Fischler said.
The commissioner said the impact assessment clearly demonstrates that cutting the link between payments and production leads farmers to use their land where this is profitable.
He asked if farmers see better ways of farming, why should Brussels prevent them from taking their chance? Why should Brussels force farmers to produce at a loss?
“The motto of our mid-term review is to let the farmer decide what and how much to produce, obviously always in a sustainable way,” he said.
The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association said the studies vindicates its position in relation to the proposed reforms.
Charlie Reilly, president of the ICSF, said the findings prove that the reforms are better than retaining the status quo.
In view of the recent highlighting of farm income difficulties, there no longer could be any justification for either the Minister for Agriculture or other parties to set their face against change, he said.
Mr Reilly said the ICSA has argued from the very outset that the current system is flawed because it forces farmers to over-produce goods such as beef, even at below the cost of production, in order to claim premia.
This is the reason why subsidies account for 70% of all farmers’ incomes and more specifically, 140% of cattle farmers’ incomes.
Claiming that these studies simply reinforce the ICSA analysis, Mr Reilly called on Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh to sit down for meaningful discussion with the ICSA “rather than hiding behind the façade of social partnership, which has proven itself to be an inappropriate mechanism for protecting farmers’ incomes”.
Fine Gael spokesman on agriculture and food, Billy Timmins called on Mr Walsh to publish a report he had commissioned on the economic impact of the Fischler proposals on Irish agriculture.
A spokesman for the minister said last night that this report will be available within days.
