With negotiations on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform set to resume this week, the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS) is urging the EU institutions “to find consensus on an effective way forward before the end of the month”.
Having a successful outcome to the negotiations is critically important for the stability and momentum of the agri-food sector, ICOS said.
The issue of reform to the CAP has been going on for the bones of three years now, but – the end might be in sight.
With last month’s meetings failing to reach agreement, the process will start again this week, with a trilogue set to take place on Thursday and Friday (June 24 and June 25), and a meeting of the agriculture ministers scheduled for Monday and Tuesday of next week (June 28 and June 29).
“Prolonging the discussions risks further delaying the implementation of the new CAP, which has already had a two-year delay,” ICOS president Jerry Long said.
“June provides a natural deadline with the upcoming summer break in the EU institutions and with the end of the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU, one of the three negotiators of the reform.
“A further delay will hold up the development of our national CAP strategic plan and this will create instability for farmers, who must plan their investments and actions over a long term but yet are still uncertain as to what requirements they will be held to or what sort of support they will receive in a year and a half’s time.
“Should the negotiations continue past June, requiring a change in personnel involved, it risks undoing the progress made to date or new elements being introduced, neither of which would likely be beneficial to Irish agricultural interests.”
Impact of CAP eco-schemes on dairy
ICOS said it is “very concerned” by the proposed 25% of direct payments to be set aside for eco-schemes, considering the “hugely significant reallocation impact” it could have, which would “particularly impact on commercial dairy farmers”.
“We consider, in light of this, that it is an absolute necessity to maintain national flexibility to redistribute unspent funding,” Long continued.
“An equally important consideration for Minister McConalogue and Irish MEPs, when talks resume later this week, is to ensure that flexibility is available on the issue of targeting direct payments.
“The collective impact of the numerous measures being proposed, on internal convergence and redistributive payments [known as front-loading], would mean a radical change to the level of agricultural support and, potentially, a double hit for the dairy sector.
“We hope that a good agreement will come out of this week’s talks, which ensures consistent and effective support for farmers, aiding them in taking environmental and climate action and not weakening those possibilities for commercial farmers by exposing them to further uncertainty, less support and volatility.”