Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has said that consultation will be needed with stakeholders before he makes any decisions on convergence and redistribution of CAP payments.
Under the CAP agreement reached last week, all member states will be required to implement internal convergence (i.e. within each member state) of 85%, thereby bringing all direct payments up to within 85% of the national average payment.
However, the deal includes a provision to allow member states to set a higher rate of convergence if they wish.
The deal also requires each member state to set aside 10% of its direct payment budget for front-loaded payments to small and medium sized farms.
This also comes with a caveat, namely that a member state can be exempted from that provision if the 10% redistribution requirement is already met by other mechanisms such as convergence.
“It’s not straightforward or black and white in relation to types of sectors or size of farms, whether it be convergence or whether it be front-loading,” Minister McConalogue said in response to a question from Agriland at a press conference today (Wednesday, June 30).
“It’s really important that we have engagement and consultation with farmers right across the country. The minimum requirement at European level is 85% convergence between now and 2026 and it’s up to member states if they want to go further than that,” he noted.
“That’s something I’ll be engaging with stakeholders on before making a final decision.”
On the redistributive payment, the minister said that there are “flexibilities there for member states to put forward their own case and their own needs assessment”.
“Obviously, our national circumstances are very different from other member states. At the EU average, 80% of payments go to 20% of farmers. At Irish national level, 56% of the money goes to 20% of farmers. We’re up there among the top member states in relation to distribution,” he argued.
The minister highlighted that the new deal will also see a cap on payments that could also contribute to hitting the redistribution target.
The deal stipulates that member states can cap direct payments to a single beneficiary at €100,000. If a payment falls between €60,000 and €100,000, the value that is in excess of €60,000 is reduced by 85%.
If both the cap and the reduction are implemented in Ireland, then this would equate to a maximum direct payment in the region of €66,000.
“There’s a number of moving parts here. We will be publishing models and case studies in relation to what the impact would be and how that would play out so we can have a full engagement and consultation with stakeholders,” Minister McConalogue added.