New CAP could drag us all down

After reading about the latest proposals to redistribute single farm payment (SFP), coming nearer to a flat rate per acre basis, I was at a complete loss to figure out how making everyone in farming equally poor would help the Irish economy.

You see, I believe that any new version of the Common Agriculture Policy deal for Irish farming should not be seen as just a subsidy system designed to maintain the farming community — it must be designed as a stimulus package for the entire economy.

I fail to see how attempting to redistribute the SFP on the basis of acres owned will achieve anything other than a quick fix for politicians and civil servants.