30,000 sign a petition for a ‘fairer’ CAP

A 30,000-signature petition is part of a campaign by the Farm Family Rights Group (FFRG) for a better CAP out-come, including a €20,000, ‘per active farmer’ minimum annual target, made up of GLAS, plus basic and greening farm payments.

FFRG chair man, Donie Shine, said setting the 2015 greening payment at 30% of this year’s single farm payment was the “biggest injustice” proposed by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney — grossly unfair to the vast majority of family farms, which have a low single farm payment per hectare.

It demands that they carry out the same environmental measures as a farmer getting 30% of a large SFP. A high proportion of the money for greening should be used to support vulnerable farmers, proposes the FFRG, which demands the greening be “flat-tened” to €83 for every hectare in the country, or be redistributed to each farmer’s first 32 hectares (but all hectares to be subject to greening rules).