Farm sector can survive, says IFA
However, he said it is likely to divide into two streams - commercial full-time farmers and part-time hobby lifestyle farmers.
Mr Berkery said capacity building, achieving scale and efficiency is as important in farming as it is for other sectors. The key to increasing scale at an affordable cost is through an increased role for landleasing for terms of five years or longer.
“We have made some progress with Government in relation to tax incentives in this area in recent budgets. Improving efficiency depends largely on the quality of human capital - mainly knowledge and management skills - and also the level of capital investment,” he said.
Mr Berkery said if agriculture is to continue as a commercial activity in the decoupled future, a key requirement is the food processing/ marketing sector transmits a clear signal back to farmers through the price mechanism in relation to the requirement of the market.
Also, in the beef sector in particular, the pricing policy of processors may need to include a seasonal rebalancing element if year-round production is to be maintained.
As regards the switch to decoupling this year, he said there is a clear tension between the very desirable objective from the farmer’s viewpoint of ‘freedom to farm’ and the regulatory or ‘cross- compliance’ conditions attached to the new decoupled payment.
