Seanad debates

Wednesday, 2 July 2003

Common Agricultural Policy: Statements.

 

The current proposal is that we pay farmers a single farm payment based on the reference years 2000, 2001 and 2002. A farmer will now get a single payment of the average of what he got in those three years. He will make one application and get one cheque in the post each year. There will be complex cases involving inheritance and lease of land and farm pensions, etc, but these are being taken care of in the legal text. The single farm payment will be a tremendous cushion for those farmers. They will have their payment anyway and will then produce high quality products for which there is a market. The only return will be from the market. They start with a single farm payment and may then go on to produce high quality Angus or Belgian blue beef, or whatever the market demands. It is the signal from the market that will be responded to – farmers will engage in rearing livestock rather than farming headage. The concept is a good one.

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