Comment: CAP emphasis has switched from support to regulation: Families will be forced out of farming

Thousands will suffer substantial cuts to their direct payments, in addition to being subject to new and unsurpassed levels of inspection and regulation

ICMSA president Pat McCormack on his Tipperary farm.

At the risk of being prematurely pessimistic — and I sincerely hope I am — we have to say bluntly that the outcome of the current CAP negotiations looks increasingly likely to be not even neutral, but actually worse.

It’s important to stress that there’s still time to avoid this disaster but certainly based on the most up-to-date reports we are getting we seem headed towards a situation where thousands of farm families across the entire country will suffer substantial cuts to their direct payments, in addition to being subject to new and unsurpassed levels of inspection and regulation.