Donal Hickey: When trying to reform farming, money talks

Wildlife and environment advocates say the EU's Common Agricultural Policy won't entice farmers to step down production

'A bird that’s badly missed in the Irish countryside is the singing skylark [Alauda arvensis] especially in moorland areas.' File picture

IF somebody who died in the 1970s were to return they might find it difficult to recognise the once-familiar Irish landscape. Housing estates, shopping centres, and new roads now cover what were once green fields.

Ditches and trees have been removed, wetlands drained and converted into productive farm land. There are tillage fields in East Cork, for example, which are as big as a small farm in Kerry.