European Parliament election candidate Barry Cowen has called for a “rebalancing” of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) towards food production.
Cowen, who is currently a TD for Laois-Offaly but is seeking an MEP seat in the Ireland Midlands – North-West constituency, also said that the CAP needs to see greater funding in order to bring about that rebalance.
Setting out his intentions on the CAP if he was elected, Cowen said: “We cannot keep asking more and more of farmers while paying them less and less, continuously going back to the CAP to fund everything.
“There needs to be greater understanding on the issues farmers are facing, and we need to make their lives easier and incentivise them.
“The best way to start is by simplifying things with less bureaucracy and red tape. Farmers were promised simplification in the last CAP, this has not been delivered,” he added.
According to the Fianna Fáil TD, farmers are being “weighed down by paperwork”.
Cowen also said that the current basis of CAP payments – i.e. income forgone and costs incurred – needs to be reviewed.
“We must replace the income forgone and costs incurred metric and instead introduce a reward-based scheme that rewards farmers for delivery.
“Currently, scheme payment rates only compensate farmers for their costs and time with no reward for delivery… We need to provide farmers with a payment that covers their costs, their time, and reward them for delivery,” he said.
Cowen also called for more “production-focused” schemes that would “bridge the income gap” for farmers that saw their income impacted by the current CAP.
“We also need a frontloading of funding and supports for sustainability and emission reduction schemes that are separate and distinct from CAP,” he said.
The MEP candidate added that the “disconnect between farmers and food producers cannot be allowed to continue”.
The European elections will happen on June 7, the same day as the local council elections.
Last week, Agriland ran a 24-hour poll to find out who the support is for among our readers.
The former general secretary of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA), Eddie Punch, has emerged as a strong favourite with rural voters according to the results of that poll.
First time candidates standing in the European elections including Michael McNamara and Nina Carberry also appear determined to give sitting MEPs a run for their money, poll results would suggest.
You can find out more about the results our poll threw up here.