Irish MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan has said that “words are not enough” from his European Parliament colleagues on the future of the agriculture sector.
The Midlands–North-West MEP was speaking after a debate on the future of agriculture in a plenary (full) session of the parliament, saying that the “platitudes and aspirations espoused in the chamber were never more divorced from reality for farmers on the ground”.
Flanagan referred specifically to farmers who are are “trapped in the quagmire” of the Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme (ACRES).
“The ACRES environmental scheme was launched with much fanfare as part of (the Common Agricultural Policy) 2023-2027… In the intervening period, the roll-out of the scheme has been beset with delays, lack of information, and a lack of urgency to address problems that have arisen.
“The manner in which flat-rate payments were made to farmers to cover up the ineptitude of the (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine), that are now subject to a clawback, is unacceptable,” Flanagan commented.
He said that farmers in the cooperation project (CP) stream of ACRES are “managing our most precious landscapes” but, he claimed, “have been let down the most”.
“What these farmers have got is delay after delay. Almost two years into the scheme initial habitat scores are only being released to farmers. Without knowing their baseline position there has been no opportunity for farmers to address this issue to increase the score the next time the habitat is assessed,” he said.
He went on to claim that the lack of approval for non-productive investments (NPIs) leaves farmers in a position where they lose out on money that they could have got for those actions, as well as not being able to offset low scores if they are on commonages.
“Farmers deserve better. They deserve fairness, transparency and competence from the department. If farmers conducted their business in a similarly incompetent, unprofessional manner they would be immediately excluded from payments. However for the department there is no accountability or no one taking responsibility,” Flanagan said.
“In the [parliament] debate, speaker after speaker said that CAP must be reformed, to have more targeted payments, supporting farmers who need it most. To do this the authorities must demonstrate that they have the ability and capability to take on the role on delivering a more targeted scheme. Few farmers have faith in the department to deliver,” he added.