Coveney flags budget measures
Earlier, the minister had said, “We need to look again at the package of taxation measures in place to encourage land mobility and, most importantly, to encourage the transfer of land to a new generation of farmer who has come through college and has many new ideas and wants to upgrade the farming practice. Rather than damage any existing package, we are seeking to enhance it.”
Addressing the Show’s Pfizer Animal Health Farm Forum, organised in conjunction with the Irish Examiner, he said an Irish field sells only once in 400 years, on average. At Millstreet, he told dairy farmers there has been a 27% increase in young people applying for agriculture and food courses, and he will also seek Department of Finance sanction for incentives to encourage parents to pass on their farms to successors.
Mr Coveney said Ireland cannot afford a national installation scheme, and welcomed CAP reform proposals to help young farmers, which he said would bring the same benefits as installation aid.
But CAP reform must allow Ireland flexibility on how to spend its share of EU funding in order to progress the Food Harvest 2020 plan to increase farm output by a third and to agri-food exports by 42%. As part of Food Harvest 2020, dairy farmers can produce 15 to 20% more milk from their existing herds, through efficiency and partnership, he told the Farm Forum, and he revealed there will also be Budget measures to encourage partnership arrangements between neighbouring farmers.
He had told the Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Natural Resources and Agriculture recently, “In this way, economies of scale can be introduced, as well as much better and more professional farm practices. Everyone can make more money and be more efficient if farmers are clustered and are encouraged to work together to buy in bulk, share machinery, potentially share pasture and to rely on one another for slurry management, waste management and so on.
“Many quite exciting opportunities arise for farmers out of farm partnerships, but the Government must reinforce this and put in place structures that can allow farmers to do it in a way they can believe in. Moreover, they also potentially could get recognition from a taxation point of view to encourage them in this.”
“Through Teagasc, the Department is working to try to put together a package that will be realistic and relevant for farmers next year and we hope that a number of pilot projects will be available to show them how it is done.
* The proposals for a flat-rate, area-based single farm payment (SFP) pose “a huge threat to dairy farmers especially”, said the minister at Millstreet. He said Ireland’s existing historical SFP system is indefensible, but he will seek flexibility to prioritise payments for active and expanding farmers. “We can’t have shocks to the industry.”
