Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Paul Daly made an interesting contribution about soil types in the same location and how we will define that and have a policy in place that will tie all that together. On every farm, there are what one would consider a few wet acres, to say the least. Will we work on electoral districts? Will we work on townlands? Every townland has a different soil type. It will be interesting to see if we can put in place a system for the different soil types that will work on the ground. Will a survey of every field in the country be proposed? How will the work be done on the ground? I know from my part of the world that Senator Daly is right and one has different soil types in different fields, or even in the same field, depending on where it leads. That is a major issue.

The definition of "active farmer" and how that plays into this debate will be a defining moment for the CAP. Does "active farmer" mean somebody who is actively farming the land or someone who owns the land? What level of activity is required to be an active farmer? Will we see holdings purchase a few store cattle to be cleared as active farmers, while renting out the rest of the holding? Will that scenario arise in the new CAP? It has been an issue since 2002. I was criticised for using the terminology "armchair farmer" but we have a major issue with a cohort of landowners who lease land with entitlements on a continuous basis. The farmer who is working and farming the land is doing so to pay back the entitlements. That is the way farming in Ireland has worked since the early 2000s and it has had a negative impact, particularly on efforts to get young people into the industry. It has been a barrier to the younger generation building up a holding.