Walsh says he will soften anomalies over decoupling

DECOUPLING and the single farm payment will no doubt throw up a number of anomalies and difficult situations for farmers.

This was acknowledged by Agriculture and Food Minister Joe Walsh in an interview with Irish Examiner Farming on his decision to fully decouple from production all direct payments for cattle, sheep and arable crops as and from January 1, 2005.

“I will seek to ameliorate those anomalies and be as helpful as I can and deal with them as equitably and as fairly as I possibly can,” he said.