The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers’ Association (INHFA) has said that there is “major concerns” for commonage farmers due to the ‘scorecard’ that will be used under the Agri-Environment Climate Measure (AECM).
The AECM will replace the Green, Low-Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS) in the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as the main Pillar II agri-environment scheme from 2023.
The INHFA, in their submission to the department as part of the CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) consultation, said that this scorecard, which will be on a results basis, will put commonage farmers at a disadvantage.
A scorecard-type system will ultimately determine a farmer’s results under the scheme and thus level of payment, similar to the system used in the Rural Environmental-Agri Pilot (REAP), in which farmers are scored from one to 10.
In that scheme, the higher the score the higher the payment, with farmers scoring less than four receiving no payment at all.
Commonage farmers can take part in the AECM under a co-operation element, but the results-based model may prove to be an issue.
Vincent Roddy, the association’s president, noted: “The AECM co-operation element, which will be available to commonage farmers, will, we understand, pay farmers based on a results-based model.
“For farmers on commonage land where they don’t have full control of the plot, the scoring of the commonage will not be just dependent on their actions, but will be subject to the actions of all other farmers on that commonage and this will create a problem.”
“On small commonages where all farmers join and agree a mechanism to protect and improve the habitat, then the scorecard may not be too problematic,” Roddy said.
“However, on larger commonages, or where some farmers choose not to join the new AECM, rewarding farmers through a scorecard is a non-runner and the uptake will reflect this,” he warned.
The INHFA president said that a possible solution to this would be the inclusion of a grazing measure as currently applied through GLAS.
“If this action is chosen then it is vital that the payment rate for the measure is attractive enough on its own for farmers to consider joining.
“A measure-based payment such as this will provide certainty to farmers as the payment rate would need to be outlined in advance. A top-up payment could then be added through a results-based scheme,” Roddy suggested.