Watch out for surprises on new subsidy scheme
However, there could still be some surprises in store for farmers dealing with the new subsidy system.
Those planning forward on the basis of their current SFP entitlements should allow some leeway for changes in the SFP mid term review scheduled for 2008.
How the SFP would be paid out was left to the discretion of each Member State, and the resulting wide disparity between member states on how the payments are distributed has become one of the concerns for the European Commission which will be addressed in 2008.
Different benefits for similar type farmers from member state to member state undermine the principle of a common market with equal opportunity for all.
Bringing about greater uniformity will be a mid-term review priority. A senior official of the Department of Agriculture told the National Tillage Conference at Carlow earlier this year that, “In the long term, from 2012 on, Brussels would like to see a flat rate per hectare paid to all farmers.”
EU Commissioner for Agriculture Mariann Fischler Boel has also signalled that she wants a ceiling on the maximum payment to any individual land owner. Equally, she believes that there should be a minimum payment for each farmer. She has also made it known that she wants more transparency on all EU payments, including SFP payments, with details of all payments to published on the internet.
