Farmers sow seeds of protest in Dublin

Thousands of farmers are to gather outside Dublin Castle today to demand that the impact of CAP reforms on direct farm payments be minimised.

The IFA-led protest coincides with the visit of EU agriculture commissioner Dacian Ciolos. On Saturday, 1,000 farmers made a similar protest outside Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney’s constituency office in Carrigaline, Co Cork.

The IFA is urging the minister to use his chairmanship of next week’s council of ministers meeting to ensure CAP talks criteria focus on rewarding productive farmers, with reforms likely to be formally agreed by end of June. The IFA’s concern is that a land-based grant (the “flattening” model) will reward what they call hobbyists and armchair farmers, giving landlords direct farm payments that should go to farmers whose output would bolster EU food security.