Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The emphasis is away from clearing land under the new CAP. Obviously, there is a market that farmers want to access in terms of productive farming, which sometimes incentivises trying to create more productivity on farms and a greater output in terms of land management. However, if we examine all the support programmes that exist and the €4 billion rural development programme, it can be seen that it is primarily a question of environmental schemes. These encourage the planting of ryegrass and more hedgerows. Some 30% of the basic payment is linked to a greening element, whereby farmers are required in many cases to have 5% of their land in what is called an ecological focus area. This is about taking land out of intensive food production to promote biological diversity and so on. In many ways, many of the incentives and the public expenditure through the CAP, which we should not forget is to be worth approximately €12.5 billion over its lifetime, are about protecting the environment and ensuring waterways are protected. This is good, but that is not to say we are done and do not need to do more in this area. Certainly, if we are considering the kind of dairy expansion that is being planned, there will be pressures that we will need to manage through the transition.

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