Agricultural policy in urgent need of new thinking, says Bruton
He said it is needed to release the full potential of Irish land, attract young people into farming, and create a stable basis for investment that is not constantly the victim of the vagaries of European politics.
“Farmers should be allowed to farm, rather than have to keep their eye constantly on the machinations of negotiators in obscure committees in Brussels. We need new thinking.”
Mr Bruton said it is important to understand the underlying reasons for the frustration that brings farmers into the streets.
Over the last 30 years, a structure of agricultural support has been developed which deprives farmers of their traditional independence as business people who produced goods that people wanted at a fair price in free conditions, he said.
“Agricultural policy has become an instrument of social engineering, driven by pressure groups, which takes little account of the needs of farmers and their families.
“Little distinction is made between those farmers who depend exclusively on farming for a living and those who have other incomes,” he said.
Mr Bruton said the result of these policies has been to drive land prices to a level where the traditional mobility in land ownership in Ireland, that facilitated progress, has virtually come to a halt.
While asset-rich, many farmers live in poverty. In the last year incomes have fallen dramatically because of inflation and bad weather.
“The present Irish government has shown itself totally unwilling to undertake any profound re-examination of agricultural policy, either at home or at European or international level.
“It has no long-term plan for the future. It is allowing people in the farming sector to age, in the hope that the passage of years will solve the problem,” he said.
