EU policy change did not hit farm payments

YOUR report headlined ‘EU changes to agricultural policy slashed incomes’ (Irish Examiner, March 30) was misleading.

When the CSO figure for national farm income for 2006 is compared with that for 2004 — the last year of the ‘old’ CAP payments system — there is an increase of 4.7%.

Farm income got a once-off boost in 2005 because some of the previous year’s direct payments were carried forward, and this distortion in 2005 is the main reason for the income reduction in 2006.