Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

Our understanding is that the Commission is trying to give countries an option to use up to 5% of the single farm payment envelope to target payments at areas of natural constraint. It has suggested, as an example, less favoured areas, LFAs, but it is not necessarily confined to those areas alone. We potentially may have the capacity to make exceptional payments because of natural constraints, for example, because of designation, or the limitations that apply to areas of environmental or biodiversity significance of certain regions. That is in addition to LFAs remaining under Pillar 2 funding. There will be a requirement to have a definition of LFA lands to qualify. We have worked hard to get an understanding in the Commission as to how to maximise the land that would qualify under the LFA definition. We define less favoured areas by a measurement of the moisture in land; in other words, most LFAs and disadvantaged areas are disadvantaged because of the amount of water that is held in the earth. They are boggy areas and areas without good drainage. We have got acceptance in the Commission for a way of measuring LFAs on the basis of moisture retention in land, which is a major success from our point of view. Otherwise, we would have stood to lose massive tracts of land that are currently regarded as less favoured areas. We may still lose some, but we have a mechanism to make an argument for LFAs into the future. There are two mechanisms for funding LFAs, the first of which is the current system under Pillar 2, which will change in terms of its criteria, and the second is that we can, if we want, set aside some single farm payment moneys to make extra payments to certain designated lands that are disadvantaged or have certain conditions applying to them that justify an extra payment. There are more options open to us there.

I want to clarify the position in respect of the 2014 versus the 2011 reference year. Everyone has mentioned this issue. To be clear to Deputy Fleming who commented earlier, and I thank him for his comments, 2014 still remains the reference year. We are not that happy about that but it is the reference year in the document. What has changed from previously leaked documents or our understanding of what is likely to come up in documents is that the EC has now added a requirement to have eligibility for a payment of some sort under the single farm payment scheme in 2011. The European Commission is trying to prevent people who want to invest heavily between now and 2014 in order to build up single farm payment eligibility but who are not currently farmers, in other words, to prevent significant land speculation coming from outside the agricultural sector. There has been a good deal of concern about that in recent weeks. The Commission has solved a part of the problem but there are still concerns about 2014 as the basis for a reference year, even with the 2011 eligibility requirement. That is the reason I am saying to farmers not to rush out and start making decisions on the basis of the current proposals on the reference year issue because that element of these proposals is likely to change and be amended in the next year or so. It could be earlier than that, and I hope we get the clarity Deputies are requesting so that we do not impact unnecessarily on the leasing market.

In relation to the crop rotation and crop diversity requirements under greening, I honestly do not think what is being proposed at present makes any sense. The idea that one would be required to have a minimum of 5% of arable land, planted with three different crops is a bit of a nonsense. I think what the Commission would have liked to do is put in place a measure that required farmers to have crop rotation plans on arable farms, but it was proving very difficult to write a policy that would be easily enforceable. What we have is a measure that will be questioned, amended and changed under the greening measures.

I am in the hands of the Chair. I can respond to Deputy Kirk's questions in writing or I can answer the questions now.

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