Walsh warns of danger in sudden CAP reform
In an address to a select committee of the British House of Commons in London, he said a sudden change to a completely liberalised policy would bankrupt most of the EU’s seven million farmers and would cause enormous economic and social upheaval in rural areas and in towns dependent on the rural economy.
“This would happen quite simply because farms in the EU where the average size is 18.4 hectares could not compete with farms in countries such as the US, Australia and New Zealand,” he said.
Mr Walsh, who is the most senior member of the EU Agricultural Council, outlined the Irish perspective on the CAP mid-term review, enlargement and the WTO.
He addressed the British parliamentarians at the invitation of the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, which is examining the extent to which the mid-term review proposals would tackle concerns about the CAP’s future direction.
Stressing the importance of the European model of agriculture, he said it takes account of the special characteristics of agriculture in Europe and its multifunctional nature.
“In Ireland, we fully agree with that vision of agriculture and we are prepared to work to that objective because the alternative presents a much more narrow view of agriculture as just another economic sector.”
Mr Walsh said that over the past 25 years, the CAP has provided a generally favourable framework for the development of agriculture in Ireland. But agricultural policy was constantly evolving in line with consumer demands and they accepted that such evolution was necessary.
The minister said evolving weaknesses in the CAP have been addressed over the years, particularly by the reforms of 1992 and Agenda 2000.
Food safety, environmental protection and animal welfare are now central elements of the policy in addition to which production limiting quotas and controls discourage over-production with the emphasis on supporting producers rather than products.
Mr Walsh also made clear that the increased societal expectations of agriculture have imposed additional costs on farmers.
“The CAP is a policy for all of the EU, it applies equally to Greece with the smallest average farm size of 4.3 hectares and to Britain with the largest average farm size of 70 hectares. It also applies to farms within the Arctic Circle and to farms on the Aegean Islands,” he said.
“In contrast, the EU must compete with the US where the average farm size is 175 hectares, as well as Australia and New Zealand where the average farm sizes are 3,125 hectares and 194 hectares respectively.”
Mr Walsh said the CAP is not a static policy and the process of review and reform will continue. The mid-term review is part of that process.
