Farmers facing 'tough decisions' on CAP
Minister for Agriculture, Charlie MaConalogue says there will be tough decisions to be made on CAP in the weeks and months ahead. Picture: David Creedon/Alamy Live News.
Agriculture is going to change over the lifetime of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) which comes with the flexibility for Ireland to create its own national plan by the end of the year.
Sustainable food, water quality, and biodiversity are just some of the elements destined for change that were explored by Minister for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue during a virtual press conference on CAP this week.
The Minister, while also keen to stress the importance of CAP in the continuation of producing world-class, sustainable food on these shores, highlighted how tough decisions would need to be made along the way.
“We are a world leader when it comes to food production and we need to stay a world leader on that and particularly when it comes to sustainability,” he added.
“And, while we will continue to produce food, we need to also take the opportunities to reduce our carbon footprint.
“The Ag Climatise roadmap sets out many measures as to how we can do that in terms of better use of chemical inputs, organic nitrogen, better soil fertility, more efficiency through breeding, etc.”
Minister McConalogue also highlighted the importance of responding to emerging science in relation to methane output in animals.
He said the Government was investing in the area.
“Also, what will be important is how we manage our water quality, how we engage in relation to enhancing our biodiversity - all of these things will become central to what farmers do in the same way that producing food is central to what they do,” he continued, while at the same time admitting that “tough decisions will have to be made along the way”.
“Farmers must be engaged with and be fully able to contribute in advance of those decisions being made,” said Minister McConalogue.
“As we know the CAP income on family farms equates to roughly what the net income of those farms are, and in many cases exceeds what the net income of the family farm.
“Therefore, there will be significant decisions to be made and that is why I fought really hard at EU level to bring these decisions home; we can decide them at home.
“We will have a level of engagement on all of this over the next few weeks with stakeholders and farmers; then we will make the decisions that need to be made.”
