Fears grow over ‘two-tier’ system in CAP reforms on land eligibility

Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has rejected claims that a ‘two-tier’ land eligibility system for payments could emerge under the new CAP or that some land could lose its agricultural status.

A new land status standard — ‘GAEC 2’, which aims to protect carbon-rich soils including wetland and peatland areas — is set to be implemented under CAP reforms from 2023.

Farmer leaders and rural TDs have sounded the alarm about the potential implications of the new standard.

Independent TD Thomas Pringle has called on the Government to oppose the EU Council’s GAEC 2 proposal and to have it “withdrawn” from yet-to-be-finalised CAP Strategic Plan regulations.

He said the proposal has the potential to remove land from three baseline categories: arable land, permanent crops and permanent pasture.

“If land does not fall into one of these categories, then it loses its eligibility for all payment,” he said.

The land status amendment proposed by the EU Council and supported by Ireland is completely unnecessary, he said, as the wording is open to interpretation.

 

‘Kick in the teeth’

Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice said: “This will be the first time ever that there will be a two-tier system under CAP.

“There is a front door that someone in the Golden Vale is sure to be in, but someone living in the hills, or another peaty area, is being mapped out at the moment right across this country.”

Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy claimed the Department is lining up some farmers for “another kick in the teeth and telling them it is orthodontic”.

However, McConalogue dismissed these criticisms as “disingenuous” and said he would not ‘stand idly by’ and allow any measure which would exclude hill and upland farmers from CAP payments.

He told the Dáil it is not the intention of the Department to render farmland under such low-input managed landscapes “ineligible” for direct payments.
He said that as the son of a farmer keeping sucklers and sheep on some of the more challenging lands in the country, he found it “disingenuous” to suggest that he or the Department would “stand idly by and allow such a crucial cohort of farmers to be excluded from CAP.”
“Both I, as Minister, and the rest of the Government are absolutely and unashamedly committed to the hill and upland farmer.”
He said he was concerned that “the substance of the Council approach is not fully understood by some” and urged “all parties who continue to have concerns to re-examine the Parliament’s text”.
Addressing concerns that there will be a requirement to seek permission or exemptions for activities on “GAEC 2” lands, as is normal in the context of the operation of a derogation, he said: “That is simply not a part of the Council text and that is why it cannot be described as a derogation”.
“There is no provision proposed in the Council text to require a system of seeking approval from any Minister or official.
“The Council text simply states that areas are automatically viewed as eligible hectares.
“It is as straightforward as that. There are no applications and no decisions to be taken. They are eligible hectares.”

Indo Farming