Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA) president, Pat McCormack, believes the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) measures for Ireland could be agreed before the turn of the year.
“It is very likely that most, if not all of the work on CAP, will be completed before the turn of the year,” he told Agriland.
“ICMSA is envisaging a number of very busy months ahead. We have already made our Budget 2022 submission. It’s now a case of getting on with the CAP discussions.”
Support for family farms in CAP
McCormack believes that the government must do everything possible to protect Irish family farms during the period ahead.
This includes making as much national funding as possible to supplement the CAP support envelope already agreed with Brussels.
He said: “Where the budget is concerned, we met with Ministers [Michael] McGrath and [Paschal] Donohoe last week. Obviously, this is a major issue for farm families.
“There is also a carbon budget to be announced over the next number of weeks. That is going to be a significant issue for all rural dwellers, but particularly for farm families.”
Where CAP is concerned, the ICMSA president believes there is a lot of national discussion to be ironed out.
He added: “At this time we believe that there are a number of key issues to be resolved for our members, many of whom are exposed, courtesy of the nitrates review.
“We continue to liaise with the Department of Agriculture, seeking the very best outcome in a very difficult situation.
Banding
The farm association president continued: “Obviously, there is great concern within our members with regard to the possible banding of cows and the consequent losses of stock.
“We did some figures around farmers milking 100 cows on 100ac. Under the current proposals, these men could lose up to 18 cows.”
But according to McCormack, the further tightening of CAP regulations and the inclusion of non-productive features on farms, could lead to Irish dairy farmers losing between 25% and 27% of their cows.
“So this is where a one labour unit is at the moment – fighting for survival. However, ICMSA will be to the fore in that battle,” he added.
“At an individual farm level, the scope to expand a dairying enterprise still exists. However, on a collective basis, the scope to further increase output does not exist, certainly at the rate that we have witnessed over recent years,” McCormack concluded.