A number of representatives from various farm lobby groups questioned the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, on future supports for the suckler sector at an event in Co. Meath today (Tuesday, July 5).
Speaking at the Teagasc BEEF2022 Open Day, Minister McConalogue expressed his support for the suckler and beef sectors.
The minister said to the event attendees: “Can we say for certain that the next generation will farm in the same way as we have? No is the answer to that, but that’s evolution.
“Your farm changed since you took over and our farming enterprises will continue to evolve, change and adapt.”
Continuing, Minister McConalogue said: “I am clear that we have a strong and vibrant beef sector and will have for long into the future. Animal proteins will continue to be the bedrock of what we do as a world-class producer of food.
“We faced unimaginable challenges in the past like horse meat, Foot and Mouth and BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy), but we endured and succeeded by being resilient and innovative.
“We must also ensure that we explore all avenues to protect the incomes of farmers.”
In taking questions from the crowd, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) livestock chairperson Brendan Golden highlighted to Minister McConalogue that under the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), suckler farmers will be “€28 million short of the position under the current CAP with the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme – Sucklers (BEEP-S)”.
Continuing, Golden said: “It is critically important you have within your remit to support our sector to the tune of €300/cow and use the funding that’s available to you to do so.”
In his response, Minister McConalogue said: “There’s no doubt if you look at the European CAP budget over the decades, it has been decreasing in proportion to the overall EU budget.
“The part that we do have control over is the national co-funding that we bring to the table in terms of Pillar II and working with my colleagues, I’m glad to be able to bring an additional 50% funding to the table in relation to Pillar II this time around.”
The minister said that this will increase funding from what was €1.9 billion under the previous CAP to €2.9 billion over the seven-year period, 2021 to 2027.
Minister McConalogue noted that the new suckler scheme which will come into play in January, will deliver a payment on the first 10 cows of €150 and the remainder at €120 and that compares to the outgoing scheme which delivers €90 on the first 10 cows and €80 on the remainder.