Sustainable or equitable? - Farm support payments

THE Common Agricultural Policy and the Single Payment Scheme seem a closed book that cannot be reviewed but figures revealed today can hardly pass without some sort of scrutiny. 

The CAP consumes around 40% of the EU budget but farmers hardly make up 5% of the EU’s population. The majority of Irish farmers — almost 70% — are paid less than €10,000 a year under a scheme that supports 121,000 farmers to the tune of €1.2bn in a year, but overall farm supports cost €1.6bn. More than 200 farmers were paid more than €100,000 under SPS and two received over €300,000.

These are spectacular figures in a country that still has to borrow almost €10bn a year to make ends meet and most businesses would, naturally, envy that kind of support.

The SPS will be replaced by a Basic Payment Scheme and Greening Payment and the value of the direct payment will not be linked to production. “Agricultural production has no impact on the value of direct payment they will receive,” said Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney.

Though farmers might disagree, this seems, from a non-farming perspective at least, a system of grants available only to those who own farmland, most of which is inherited. This seems a social construct that is neither equitable nor sustainable in a country where so many vital services have been dramatically curtailed. It is also fair to ask how many farmers pay as much in tax as they receive in subsidies.