Éamon Ó Cuív on CAP failure: Hard work, less farm income
Éamon Ó Cuív criticises the EU Common Agricultural Policy and its payment rules, arguing they punish intensive, efficient farmers and fail marginal and part-time farmers. He urges reform of convergence, greening payments and producer prices to make beef, lamb and dairy production profitable.
Main criticism
Éamon Ó Cuív argued that Europe has failed to address a central problem in farming - the more intensively and efficiently farmers work, the less profit they often make. He described the system as "farcical" and warned that without addressing this issue there will be ongoing problems in agriculture.
Convergence and historic payment basis
He criticised basing payments on historic references from 2001 or 2003, noting that young farmers who were children then cannot reasonably be rewarded on that basis. He said attempts to relate single farm payment rates to stock intensity were undermined by buying and selling and that his department could not provide a clear relationship between intensity and payment rates.
Greening payments and future rates
Ó Cuív highlighted that in the last CAP the greening payment was not subject to convergence and many farmers continue to receive the full 30% greening rate tied to historic entitlements. He asked what rate will apply to the greening element of future basic payments and said he had not seen a satisfactory answer.
Part-time and marginal farmers' role
He defended part-time farmers and those on disadvantaged land, stressing their environmental value and the importance of combined farm and off-farm income for household standards of living. He rejected dismissive commentary by some farm leaders about part-time farmers and said productive farming depends on a mix of large and small holdings.
REPS decline and the need for price reform
Ó Cuív pointed out that REPS payments in the 2000s were about €11,000 for many farmers but are now roughly €4,000 with significant compliance costs - a dramatic percentage loss for those farmers. He concluded that Europe has balked at necessary reform - especially on the fundamental price issue and payments to primary producers - and called for measures to make beef, lamb and dairy production profitable.
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Minister, if we look at the big scene of farming, once again Europe has failed to grasp the big nettle, and that is the fact that if I accept dairy farming, and certainly in relation to beef and sheep farming, if I put aside the fixed grants that people get irrespective of productivity as long as they have a very basic level of farming going on, the more intensively you farm, the less profit you make, and the more in fact at the end of the year when you do up your accounts, you find yourself eating into your grants, and I have looked at endless sets of accounts, I have talked to endless farmers, and it is absolutely a farcical industry that the harder you work, the more intensively you work, the more efficiently you work, the less money you make, and until internationally we grasp that particular nettle, we are going to have problems in agriculture. Now you know my view on convergence, my view is that price should be how the farmers with high output, very good land should make their money, and that basing any grant on something that happened in 2001 or 2003 is foolish. For example, a young farmer of 25 now was five years of age when this was settled and if their grandparent or their parent owned the land they might not be farming intensively, and anyway your department said to me when I asked, try to get the relationship between stock intensity and single farm payment rates, they told me we can't give it to you, because there will be so much buying and selling, the whole thing is irrelevant anyway, so a lot of it doesn't even have any relationship to 2001. Now in the last cap, the greening payment was not subject to convergence, and people continue to get the greening payment at the full rate, the full 30% rate of what they had inherited from 2001 or what they had bought. Can you tell me what rate is going to apply, is that rate going to continue on for the greening part of what will be the new basic payment the next time? I don't think we will have time to get the answer maybe today, you might send me on the answer because I think that is a very, very fundamental question that I haven't certainly seen answered. Now I have to say I am a little bit annoyed at commentary by certain farm organisations and farm leaders disparaging the part time farmer as if they were happy farmers. You know and I know representing marginal land areas that are absolutely vital from an environmental point of view and the most productive farmers would be at a loss if we didn't have the environmental areas from a European point of view. The second point is that everyone forgets that in a lot of cases of households in the west coast or in the poorer parts of every other county, I remember there are hill areas in every county, there are disadvantaged lands in every county, there are people on no payment in every county, that a lot of those farmers are dependent on a very, very modest job and their farm combined income to get a decent standard of living. And therefore it is a real part of their annual income combined with their all farm income and also many productive farmers have partners or spouses in very lucrative jobs. So all farmers who are farming, who are farming for a serious income are important whether they are big or small. Now another issue I would just like to highlight because again it goes unnoticed. In the noughties, REPS was €11,000 for farmers, for a lot of farmers it was €11,000. Now the equivalents are €4,000 with huge compliance costs in terms of planners. That is seven of a loss. The convergence to date in no way makes up that loss. And the percentage of income loss for farmers who were in REPS getting the full rate to the present full rate of the Gloss scheme is absolutely ginormous in terms of percent of their money. So the reality is, Minister, we need reform. Unfortunately, Europe has balked at reform. And it has balked at reform on the most fundamental issue that when I was spokesperson for Fiona Foil and Agriculture that I spent a lot of time on, the price issue. And I went over and back to Europe. They said they were interested, but we have not dealt with the payment to primary producers. It is a worldwide problem, I grant you, but it is a European problem. And until we make it profitable to produce beef and lamb and so on, we are actually destroying farming and we are destroying productive farming, which we all need. We are all doing completely different. From the beginning of the beginning of the year. We are doing a very good job of caring for families. The The The The The
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