Hundreds of Irish farmers to see reduced payments through new CAP

Tue, 04 Oct, 2022 - 17:47

Ciara Phelan, Political Correspondent

Hundreds of Irish farmers will see reduced payments through the new Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) despite increase in prices elsewhere.

The Government has signed off on the new Common Agricultural Policy that will give Irish farmers nearly €9.8bn over five years.

Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue said a “few hundred farmers” would be impacted by the new CAP, which will come into effect from January.

In the outgoing CAP, the maximum payment for any one farm was €150,000.

He said in order to bring more equity to how CAP is administered, the maximum payment in the new CAP is €66,000.

Mr McConalogue said: “For the vast majority of farmers then in terms of the actual conversions, the differences will be marginal, either up or down margins in small numbers.

Some could be up significantly, some could be down significantly.

"On the balance, the pot is staying the same.”

Mr McConalogue also said there has been a process under way in Europe over more than 15 years where the payment per hectare to farms has been converging towards an average payment per hectare over the last couple of CAPs.

He said that process was continuing and “there’s an obligation on all member states to at least bring the minimum payment to every farmer up to at least 85% of the average payment in this CAP.”

The bulk of Irelands' share of funding comes from the European Union, but Ireland will co-finance the policy by about €2.3bn.

Mr McConalogue said this would ensure that those farmers who will see reduced CAP payments will remain viable.

€1.5bn of the fund will be spent on the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES), which aims to address biodiversity decline through targeted income support.

There is also a 500% increase in funding for organic farming, to bring it to €256m.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture Pippa Hackett said in a time of rising fertiliser costs and other input costs, “it makes sense for farmers to consider all their options.”

She said she hoped the increase in funding for organic farming would entice farmers to switch.

Fine Gael junior minister Martin Heydon said a number of funding schemes would have “built-in health and safety training”.

He said “it’s a step change in how farmers' health, safety and wellbeing is integrated into the CAP.

“To date this year, 10 people have lost their lives on Irish farms and beyond the individual tragedy for those families and their communities this also is a really significant challenge to social sustainability of the sector.”

He said the measure “will ensure we reach a wider audience of farmers than we have in previous CAPs while also targeting those most at risk”.

On the controversial concrete levy, all three ministers said the details still have to be worked out through the Finance Bill and would not say whether they supported first-time buyers being excluded from the levy which could add an additional €4,000 to the price of a home.

Mr McConalogue admitted “there is no getting away, there will be some increase in costs”, as a result of the levy.

Agri tax reliefs and green diesel excise duty reductions extended for farmers in Budget 2023