Ireland's family farms face a 'fight for survival' - agri committee chair
Ireland cannot risk the "further decline" of family farms, the chair of the joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food has warned.
According to the TD for Cork North West, Aindrias Moynihan, the fact that the number of farms in Ireland has fallen by nearly 5,000 in 15 years underlines the challenges currently facing family farms.
Deputy Moynihan was part of a Fianna Fáil agri-food delegation, who met recently in Brussels with the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen, to highlight why protecting the family farm must be an "absolute priority" in the next Common Agriculture Policy (CAP).
According to the chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food, the delegation shared Irish concerns about the European Commission proposal's to allocate €300 billion to CAP post 2027 - which it said is equivalent to a 20% cut in the current CAP fund.
Deputy Moynihan, Deputy Peter Chap Cleere and Senator Paul Daly also outlined the "importance of securing new funding streams, separate to CAP, to support farm families and rural communities in Ireland".
"The family farm is one of Ireland’s greatest strengths.
"But in order to thrive, it needs a robust CAP, which strong financial backing," the Fianna Fáil agri-food delegation said.
Earlier this year during his first official visit to Ireland as EU Commissioner, Hansen acknowledged that Europe was "losing, dramatically, farms all over the continent, we need to do something [so] that farmers stay in production".
The commissioner also told Irish farmers that the next CAP needed to "build on what is working well" but also "fix elements not working well".
Speaking at the Rural Pact Conference in Belgium just a few weeks ago, Commissioner Hansen stressed that "there are no rural areas without viable agriculture and no agriculture without thriving rural areas".
He also said: "I have read reports after our proposals that the next CAP will be the €300 billion ring-fenced money.
"This is not correct. This ring-fenced amount is a minimum amount, dedicated to supporting farmers' income.
"But we all know in this room that the CAP is larger than this. It is exactly beyond this income support where the synergies lie. Where we can create win-win situations that serve both rural areas, regional economies and our overall cohesion".
