Fischler plan ‘will not pay farmers to do nothing’
Farm Commissioner Dr Franz Fischler described as “completely unfounded” criticism that farmers would stop producing and be paid to sit idle under the proposed reforms.
He also said studies had concluded that decoupling aid from production would not lead to farmers leaving the industry as some fear, but would boost incomes overall. “We want to help farmers resume their role as businessmen. We want farmers to be suitably rewarded for all the services they perform for society.
“We want farmers to spend the bulk of their working day in the fields and not filling out forms,” he said.
Dr Fischler said far from leaving the industry, farmers would be more likely to switch at least in part to new, more profitable products.
Instead of following product-or animal-specific subsidy signals, and the accompanying red tape, farmers’ decisions would be dictated by market conditions.
He said the proposal for decoupling explicitly recognises the role of farmers in managing land and rural space. But this would no longer be taken for granted.
“The new single-farm payment will not be paid to farmers who fail to manage land according to newly established land management obligations. This means keeping land in good agricultural condition.
“We are therefore not paying our farmers to do nothing. Rather, we pay them because we want to support farm income while ensuring adequate land management. In the past, we encouraged farmers to produce too much at too high prices, in order to support their income.
“With our proposals, we don’t change our aim of support farm income, but we do so in a way that is more economically and socially acceptable.
“This is what we mean when we say we want to shift support from product to producer,” he said.
Stressing that decoupling is still the core element of the reforms, he said these payments would be conditional upon compliance with binding standards in environmental protection, food safety, animal health and welfare and occupational safety.
“Farmers who for example use forbidden growth promoters or pollute the soil, will be subject to sanctions. The penalty will take the form of a 10% to 100% reduction of the aid, depending on the severity of the case,” he said.
However, 63% of the 300 Irish dairy, beef and tillage farmers who took part in an Irish Farmers Journal opinion poll this week do not believe the CAP reform and WTO proposals will lead to an increase in farm incomes over time.
Twenty-two percent said they believed farm incomes would increase while 15% didn’t know or had no opinion on the question.
The poll, carried out by Response Interaction Centre, also showed 46% in favour of decoupling and a single farm payment.
Thirty-five percent were against and 19% were in the “don’t know” or “no opinion” category.
