The revolution in organic farming is bypassing Ireland as we have one of the lowest proportions of organic farms in Europe.

The EU Agriculture Commissioner said that farmers will have to have a minimum of activity on their lands to qualify for payments under the new Common Agriculture Policy.

The production of milk, beef, lamb, and crops on Irish farms make an essential and valuable contribution to the Irish economy, not just in regional rural areas, but nationally for the country.

The EU Commissioner for Agriculture says the European Commission is prepared to help Irish farmers who are short on fodder.

IFA officers from all around the country are lobbying TDs and senators to resist CAP reform proposals on flattening and regionalisation, in advance of a protest planned for Dublin Castle next Tuesday.

There was muted support across Europe from the various interest groups to the deal hammered out by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney on a common stance by EU member states on a reform of the CAP.

The viability of tens of thousands of farmers will be put at risk if a proposal to flatten direct farm payments is approved as part of CAP reforms being negotiated by EU agriculture ministers, the IFA claims.

The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association hosted its Annual Conference 2012 in Dublin last week.

After the Christmas break, there are many important management, mental and physical tasks on the dairy farm.

Industry leaders in the Irish agri-food sector are in unanimous agreement on the need to resist proposed cuts to the EU’s agriculture budget.

A payment of €250 per acre for the first 80 acres for active farmers was one of the CAP reform proposals put to the EU’s Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos during his recent visit to Ireland.

IFA’s ‘day of action’ on Tuesday, Oct 9, will highlight the squeeze on farm incomes, and send a message to the Government and the European Commission to support farming and rural communities with a full CAP budget, to retain national funding for income-related farm schemes, and to get a fair price from retailers.

At the recent CAP 50th anniversary event in the centre of Brussels, Macra’s Bryan Daniels and John Joyce highlighted difficulties for young people trying to enter farming in Ireland, and called for better access to land and capital, which are the most substantial barriers to entry to farming, not just in Ireland but across Europe.

The three-day National Ploughing Championships which begin in Co Wexford today will again demonstrate that Irish farming is a modern, progressive and competitive part of both the national and the European economy, according to Dacian Ciolos, the EU Commissioner for Agriculture, who added that farming has long been at the heart of Irish society.

A small, but powerful farming group wants to maintain the present system of single farm payment (SFP) after 2013.

The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association says many of their members are worried that CAP reform implies savage cuts to their Single Payment.

A European Commission plan for flat rate single farm payments in Ireland would spark a civil war, warns Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney.

Inflexibility on CAP proposals was only to be expected, when EU Commissioner for agriculture and rural development Dacian Ciolos came to Ireland.

Farming in Ireland has been praised by European Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Dacian Ciolos, as an industry offering excellent performance.

Irish unrest continues over core aspects of the proposed new Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), but focus is moving onto battles that have a realistic chance of being won.

Irish farmers seeking to revive the sugar industry can expect broad EU approval but no funding, EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos said during his recent visit to Dublin.

Farmers could lose up to 50% of their income if the CAP goes ahead as proposed, IFA members told EU Commissioner Dacian Ciolos on his visit to the RDS last week.

OUTPUT-BASED farm payments are a thing of the past, to be replaced by a controversial “flat rate” per-hectare payment model, EU Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Ciolos confirmed at yesterday’s Irish Farmer’s Association (IFA) annual general meeting.

EUROPE will not be offering a soft landing for superlevy-bound Irish farmers, EU Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Ciolos confirmed at yesterday’s IFA annual general meeting in Dublin.

Europe's Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolo has said he is hopeful that Irish farmers will be happy with the changes being made to the Common Agricultural Policy.

LANDOWNERS who break their leases should be excluded from Single Farm Payment (SFP), according to ICMSA president John Comer.

PROPOSALS to reform the CAP will reward land owners rather than food producers, the IFA has told EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos at a meeting in the European Parliament in Brussels.

DAIRY farmer Ann Moore, of Ballyspillane, Co Cork, has won the highly regarded COPA European Innovation Prize for Women Farmers.

All the world’s a stage,

THE plight of pig farmers is a lesson for anyone in the EU interested in farming for profit.

THE EU wants to simplify the Common Agricultural Policy. But everyone agrees their latest plan is one of the most complex ever.

AGRICULTURE and rural businesses will be hamstrung in their efforts to drive economic recovery if proposed budget cuts go ahead, warns IFA president John Bryan.

IFA president John Bryan has called on Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney to reject the flat rate direct payments model proposed in a leaked EU draft document.

CAN Ireland be the Silicon Valley for food? Maybe. This is the verdict after the latest analysis of the sector at the inaugural National Food & Agribusiness Conference at Croke Park in Dublin.

A dispute erupted today over compensation payments to European farmers hit by tumbling sales during the deadly E. coli outbreak.

EUROPEAN milk quota regulations should take a more relaxed line on butterfat content in the run-up to the end of the quota era in 2015, according to ICMSA president Jackie Cahill.