Submissions invited on new payments system
Advertisements this week invite submissions to be made up to September 20.
Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney is committed to comprehensive consultation with all relevant stakeholders, to ascertain their views on the most appropriate application of the new Pillar 1 (which is mainly the single farm payment) regime of the CAP, and help the minister make decisions.
To assist in this process, the Department has made available on its website (www.agriculture.gov.ie) a questionnaire outlining areas where direct payments decisions must be taken by the Minister, under the headings of Definition of Permanent Grassland and Pasture, Active Farmer, Flexibility between Pillars, Allocation of Entitlements under the Basic Payment Scheme, Convergence, National Reserve, Transfer of Entitlements, Redistributive Payment, Greening, Crop Diversification, Permanent Grassland, Ecological Focus Area, Young Farmers’ Scheme, Coupled Support, Small Farmers’ Scheme, and Areas of Natural Constraints.
For example, the question is posed: should coupled support be applied in Ireland in order to maintain levels of production; what sectors should receive this support; what percentage of national direct payments should be used (up to 8%); what ceiling; should Ireland use the additional 2% for protein crops?
To help those making submissions, as much detail as possible of the CAP reform package agreed in Brussels at the end of June is also given.
It’s one of the most significant reforms of the CAP since its beginnings in 1962, according to the Department. But fundamental objectives are largely unchanged — a fair standard of living for farmers; a stable, safe and affordable food supply; and balanced rural development.
All member states are grappling with decisions on how they should use the flexibility provided in the new direct payments regulations, said CAP expert Alan Matthews. He noted that if member states choose to recouple different proportions of their direct payments, or if greening obligations are interpreted differently, there could be distortions in competition between farmers in different states.
The difficulty for all EU ministers for agriculture is that implementing the direct payment flexibility options is an inherently political process, because it involves redistribution of a fixed pot of money between different groups of farmers, said Mr Matthews, professor emeritus of European Agricultural Policy at Trinity College, and president of the European Association of Agricultural Economists.
Unlike Ireland, the Welsh government has published results of its research on redistribution of payments between farms, and stated in its consultation document its clear preference on each of the flexibility options, inviting stakeholders to agree or disagree.
