The annual general meeting (AGM) of the Agricultural Consultants Association (ACA) takes place today, Friday, March 6, in Portlaoise, and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) featured as a major part of the discussions.
The association is calling for “immediate clarity” on the transitional measures being proposed under the current CAP.
Owen O’Driscoll, the ACA president, said: “The ACA and the [Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine] have a good working relationship presently.
“Our relationship in the forthcoming months will be even more important so that we can receive clarity on many issues on the CAP transition measures and ensure that Irish farmers and their families can continue to receive critical support measures.
The continuation of many schemes, including GLAS [Green, Low-Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme] and the BDGP [Beef Date and Genomics Programme], are of huge importance to farmers and they must know soon if they will receive a rollover of their participation in such schemes until the next CAP is in place.
The outgoing ACA president warned that “any uncertainty or discontinuation will have massive effects on our members and their staff also”.
O’Driscoll stressed: “The ACA will be supporting any transition measures proposed by the department that assists with a rollover of these schemes.
Farmers have made significant investments and adjustments in their animal breeding policies with the help of the BDGP and it would be reprehensible that these advancements would end prematurely without a new support scheme.
On the issue of GLAS, O’Driscoll warned that, if that scheme ended without any rollover, it would have “devastating effects” on both farmer income and job security in the private advisory sector.
He added that clarity on the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) was needed for farmers to “avoid farmers panic and putting additional strain on agri-sector budgets”.
Also at the AGM today, O’Driscoll thanked the organisation’s staff for their work during his term, and set out the ACA’s new mission statement.
“It is a challenging time for our members, but their contributions to public policy through our internal collaborations are most welcome, and we look forward to supporting our farmer clients with a continued timely and professional farm advisory service,” O’Driscoll concluded.