Dillon: average farm income just €6,000 without EU

WITHOUT the new European Union single farm payment, farmers would have an average income of €6,000, the Irish Farmers Association declared yesterday.

The average payment is €10,000. President John Dillon spoke after figures released under the Freedom of Information Act showed Larry Goodman’s company, Irish Agricultural Development, will get a total of €508,390 in Common Agricultural Policy payments.

Mr Dillon, speaking at a lunch on the fringes of the Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show, said he did not wish to comment on any individual payment.

“There will be always be winners in any scheme but on average the payments going to farmers are around €10,000. The average income of farmers is around €16,000.

“If you take the payments away from farmers, you are down to €6,000 average income. That’s the way we look at it,” he said.

Four of the top 20 recipients have objected to having their names and details of the amounts received being listed. They now have two weeks to appeal to the Information Commissioner.

The IFA supported a €300,000 payment ceiling during the CAP reform negotiations, but it was rejected by the British who want to review the whole CAP budget.

Describing beef imports as frightening, Mr Dillon said there was a 60% increase last year, or one-third of Ireland’s domestic market.

Labour spokesperson on agriculture and food, Mary Upton, said figures showing beef baron Larry Goodman receives €10,000 per week in farm subsidies will anger both consumers and farm families. “The role of CAP should not be to feather-bed Mr Goodman or other millionaires, but to support the maximum number of farm families on the land and ensure that farmers get a fair return for their endeavours,” she said.

Mr Dillon said farmers selling cattle in the last month have had painful experiences of the market damage from increased volumes of low priced South American beef.

Imports from Brazil and Argentina have the potential to wipe out the €1.5 billion Irish beef industry. Cattle prices have been cut by 45c/kg, or €150 per head since June, wiping out any possibility of profit from summer grazing.

He also claimed consumers are being misled because of the lack of transparent and effective labelling. He called on Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan to deliver on her vow to introduce labelling in the early autumn.

He also accused British retailers and processors of double standards saying they demanded high standards from EU producers, but imported beef from South America, where there were serious consumer issues.

Mr Dillon said the EU Commission’s proposals for the sugar industry would leave it uneconomic to grow sugar beet in this country. He called on Minister Coughlan to continue to resist the proposals.