EU grants curb deals new blow to farmers

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday January 09, 2003 12:19 by eurocrap

I wonder if the farmers 'leaders thought about this before they voted yes to Nice

EMBATTLED Irish farmers are to have their incomes further cut by Brussels.

Despite fierce opposition from politicians and the agricultural lobby, the European Commission is to announce that a radical shake-up of farm payouts will go ahead.

It will bring an end to headage payments and hasten planned reforms of the cereal and dairy sectors. It will also cut incomes by around 8pc over six years.

It will be several years before the policy starts to bite, but the news could not come at a worse time for farmers here as their tractorcade protest continues on its way to Dublin for a planned rally in front of Government Buildings on Friday.

Some 450 tractors drove through Cork yesterday causing disruption while 200 drove to Limerick and hundreds more rallied in Waterford, Roscommon, Galway, Longford and Donegal.

IFA General Secretary, Michael Berkery, warned that the tractorcade will be just the opening salvo in a campaign if the Government does not address a broad range of issues which are hitting farm incomes.

But the news from Brussels suggests that, in real terms, farm incomes are more likely to fall than rise in the coming years.

Sticking to the fundamentals of his original plan, the Farm Commissioner, Franz Fischler, intends soon to flesh out the controversial review of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) announced last year, arguing the current complex system of payouts is untenable and must be abolished.

Mr Fishler will defend his most radical change - to pay farmers for doing nothing - offering them a reduced annual payout based on accumulated cheques but without any requirement to produce any crops or livestock.

According to the latest proposals, which have been seen by the Irish Independent ahead of their publication in two weeks, Mr Fischler insists that not only must the headage system of payouts end but also that reform in the cereal and dairy sector be speeded up.

This would end the system of paying farmers a set amount for every cow or sheep they rear and replace it with a simpler system.

In the draft legislation, this would be calculated on the "historic" payment to farms, which would be based on the years between 2000 and 2002.

As part of its defence, the commission will also publish impact studies which will show that although overall production may drop farmers will get paid more for higher quality produce (possibly up to €1,500 extra per farmer) and will also have clear income stability for the first time.

Last night, a spokesperson for Mr Fischler refused to comment, saying the plans could change before the 20 commissioners are asked to approve them.

The commission accepts it must delay the reforms by three years to 2007. It will also limit the gradual cuts to direct farm supports - dropping by 1pc annually, not 3pc as first suggested.

This would reduce the impact of the commission's original plan which would have cut farm incomes by as much as 20pc.

Conor Sweeney, European Editor in Brussels