Farming
Coveney will decide ‘who gets what’ in new CAP package
BY FRANCIS FARRAGHER
THE ‘nuts and bolts’ of the CAP deal will only be worked out at national level over the course of the next six months, but Galway IFA Chairman, Michael Flynn, has warned that most farmers will be facing a reduction in their payments.
Although Agriculture Minister, Simon Coveney, has expressed his delight last week at getting the new deal agreed, the sharing out of the ‘Irish cake’ of €1.2 billion per year among 130,000 farmers – to be decided over the coming six to nine months – will be critical as regards farm income between now and 2019.
This week, Galway IFA Chairman, Michael Flynn, told the Farming Tribune that regardless of how the talks evolved at national level over the coming months, it was almost certain that the majority of farmers would have to take a reduction in their single payment.
“One thing we do want to ensure is that our Pillar 2 payments especially in DAS (Disadvantages Areas Scheme) are not alone maintained but restored to their pre-cut levels. These payments are an absolute lifeline for the smaller West of Ireland farmers,” said Mr. Flynn.
Fianna Fáil Agricultural Spokesman, Éamon Ó Cuív, told the Farming Tribune that the single most important thing that should happen over the coming months was for ‘an honest and completely open debate’ to take place on the options that now were available.
“We must face up to issues here honestly and address the situation whereby the top 2% of farmers end up getting 12% of the payments. The flexibility is there to ensure that we get a far fairer redistribution of payments that will benefit the vast majority of Irish farmers,” said Deputy Ó Cuív.
He said that he wasn’t in favour of a clause limiting cuts to 30% across the board, as this meant a farmer on €200,000 worth of payments would end up still on a payment level of €140,000 per annum.
“We need to have a very factual appraisal in relation to looking at a maximum payment level of €650 per hectare and to the frontloading of payments for the first 50 hectares. This would have a positive impact on over 80% of Irish farms,” said Deputy Ó Cuív.
Galway IFA Chairman, Michael Flynn, who attended a day long IFA National Council meeting in Dublin on Tuesday dealing with the new CAP, said that there was no getting away from the fact that there was a serious payment reduction element to the new deal.
“Here in the West of Ireland we would strongly support the provision of a strong coupled element to the CAP for our farmers. Over recent weeks and months, we have all seen the huge sell-off of suckler cows while the ewe flock has also suffered a decline – if we don’t protect the farmers at the basic building block stage of the production cycle, then the whole industry will be under threat,” said Michael Flynn.
He said that he was also worried about increasing payment levels for non-productive farmers and added that this should be looked at in the context of the mid-term CAP review due in 2017.
“If the European taxpayers see a situation developing whereby they are subsidising ‘so called farmers’ who are producing nothing, then it could call into question the whole future of the CAP. The funds need to be targeted at the active producing farmers,” said Michael Flynn.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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MINISTER for Agriculture, Charlie McConalogue, has been asked to review a decision taken over recent weeks to exclude the sheep farming sector from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR).
East Galway Independent TD, Seán Canney, has called on the Agriculture Minister and Government to ‘revisit’ the issue of sheep farmers and the BAR fund.
Galway IFA Chair, Stephen Canavan, also said that a mistake had been made in terms of excluding the sheep sector from the BAR funding.
“I think that there is no doubt whatsoever that Brexit had a major impact in terms of New Zealand lamb exports flooding the UK market.
“The knock-on affect of that on Irish sheep farmers was a serious fall-back on lamb and hogget prices through the early months of this year.
“There are now serious concerns that the farmers who buy in store lambs through the early autumn period will just pull out of this market after getting such a scalding over the past six months or so,” said Stephen Canavan.
According to Deputy Seán Canney, all of the Regional Group of TDs are backing the move to get the Government to have another look at the use of the BAR fund for the sheep sector.
“The evidence that sheep farming was affected by Brexit is strong and the decision not to support people in this sector needs to be reversed immediately.
“Brexit negotiations began in June 2016 and caused turmoil in the sheep trade as it weakened the currency making UK lamb far more competitive.
“The notion or threat of ‘a no deal ‘ in Brexit caused the price of sheep to fluctuate repeatedly in the trade and resulted in lambs selling for an estimated €30-€50 lower per head each year during the entire Brexit process,” said Deputy Canney.
WITH the exception of Leitrim, Galway was marginally the cheapest county in the west and north-west to buy non-residential farmland during the course of 2022, according to the latest national survey of prices.
The survey showed that the average price of an acre of ‘good land’ in Galway last year, for holdings under 50-acres, was €9,500 – the dearest was Donegal at €12,143 while the cheapest was Leitrim at €6,140 an acre.
Jointly researched by Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCCI) and Teagasc, the survey also indicated that only 0.5% of land in Ireland goes up for sale each year, a major factor in terms of demand for leased land.
‘Good land’ in Mayo [under 50-acres] averaged out at €10,092; the figure for Roscommon was €9,938; with Sligo coming in at €9,550.
When it came to a comparison of poorer quality land in Connacht [under 50-acres], Mayo was the cheapest at €2,886 followed by Leitrim on €3,300 while Galway topped ‘poor land price league’ at €5,375 per acre.
Auctioneer Martin O’Connor of DNG O’Connor, Oughterard, said that the market was being driven by dairy farmers ‘who are continually ranked throughout the survey as the most likely purchasers of land across the country’.
He said that changes in the European Nitrates Directive in relation to improving water quality meant that many dairy farmers needed more land to comply with this directive.
“In order to maintain current levels of milk production – and to comply with the directive – many dairy farms will need to either increase their land area or reduce milk production.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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