Some of the details of the new Agri-Environment Climate Measure (AECM), which were announced this week by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, have drawn the ire of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA).
Under the scheme, about 20,000 participants (out of about 50,000 altogether) will be eligible for maximum payments of up to €10,000, working in ‘co-operation projects’ (CPs), which will be overseen by ‘CP teams’.
These teams will include ecologists, hydrologists, ornithologists and project managers, the department said.
The ICMSA claimed that “it is perfectly obvious that what we have here is yet another layer of consultants all of whom will drawing down fees from funding that could – and should – be reserved for active farmers and addressing the environmental objectives of those farmers”.
Pat McCormack, the association’s president, remarked that the scheme structure “has smoothly inserted another level into the ‘state-consultant-farmer’ structural model that is already siphoning off huge sums from funds intended for farmers”.
“Indeed, at this stage, the minister [Charlie McConalogue] should spell out the estimated budget for consultant fees associated with all schemes in Ireland’s CAP [Common Agricultural Policy] Strategic Plan. We reckon the consultants’ fees look set to skyrocket compared to the previous periods and all at the expense of family farms,” he argued.
As well as the funding issue, McCormack also raised concerns over the composition of these CP teams.
“I can almost guarantee that they will be drawn to a significant extent from the most vociferous elements of the environmental movement, and which will have degrees of connection to groups that are already on the record as being critical of commercial farming.
“So what we have here is funding intended for farmers now being used to fund a newly-added layer of consultants who will take it upon themselves to undermine and eliminate commercial farming from the areas in which they operate,” the ICMSA president alleged.
He added: “To be honest, from ICMSA’s view, this looks uncomfortably like a green gravy train for supporters and friends.”
McCormack also criticised the fact that the farmers who will be eligible for the maximum payment rate up to €10,000 are the same farmers who are set to benefit from the new rate of convergence in Pillar I of the next CAP – of which the AECM makes up the flagship environmental scheme in Pillar II.
“Put simply, it is unfair that possibly up to 50% of the budget will go to a small proportion of the country and that landowners – rather than farmers – will qualify for payments.
“Why are these landowners getting a maximum payment of €10,000 while farmers in other areas – even in the unlikely event that they can qualify for the scheme – only qualify for a maximum of €7,000, with an limit of 30,000 participants for the rest of the country?” he asked.
McCormack went on: “The government is talking out of both sides of its mouth on environmental matters; speaking about the challenges but not prepared to put the necessary funding in place to address these challenges.”
He claimed: “The diversion of funding away from commercial to either ‘hobby’ farming or people who just own land and don’t farm at all is now well underway.
“We have listened very closely to people on the environmental challenges and we’ve put forward constructive proposals in relation to this.
“What we seem to have ended up with, however, is a scheme to reward the consultant professionals and owners of land rather than farmers. That is not isolated either; there’s a clear trend in this regard across a number of schemes. This AECM plan marks a big step in that very risky direction,” the farm leader concluded.