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Opinionfarming in ireland
Taking CAP from 'hobby farmers' is not going to strengthen Ireland's food security problem
The battle over who qualifies for EU CAP supports exposes a bigger problem in Irish agriculture, in that we export huge quantities of food while importing much of what we actually eat.
THE RETURN OF the annual Ploughing Championships recently brought with it a renewed focus on the future of agriculture. It was an opportune time for the various farm representatives to set out their stalls in advance of the upcoming budget and the ongoing negotiations on the taxpayer-supported Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
CAP is one of the foundations of European agricultural policy, and farmers across the EU have benefited from it since its creation in 1962. It has evolved significantly over that time and is the longest-serving EU policy. That evolution has included a greater focus on biodiversity and environmental supports, and CAP now plays a part in helping farmers to protect and restore biodiversity.
That’s why I was struck recently to see the latest push from the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), which represents many dairy farmers, for a change in who qualifies for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) farm subsidies. The cohort it is unhappy about is what it deems to be “hobby farmers” or those with small holdings, and it’s asking for these subsidies to go only to “active farmers” only, namely those who it believes “produce food”.
An idea first proposed earlier this year, the ICMSA suggests that farms stocked at less than one Livestock Unit (LSU) per hectare should not qualify for CAP subsidy, which could exclude tens of thousands of low-stock, low-intensity farmers from CAP income supports, many of whom are already “produce food” without any income supports whatsoever. This is while the average dairy farm income was over €150,000 last year.
To exclude nearly all part-time, low input farmers would be unfair and divisive. These farmers are our neighbours, our friends, and in some cases our family members – generational farmers who are doing their best. It’s a bad look for Irish agriculture to have such polarising commentary on who qualifies, and who does not, as a farmer or a food producer, and it is unfortunate that this is forming part of the debate around CAP, when what we need more than ever is a collective, progressive approach from the sector.
A shifting focus
Moving public money from the less intensive farmer could be seen as a land grab, never mind what it would mean for the Irish landscape, and its already depleted natural resources.
The CAP, as mentioned, has adapted since its inception in 1962, when its objective was essentially to ‘produce cheap food’, and in those post-war years food supply was paramount. But just look at what’s been created as a result – a race to the bottom, with ever-increasing input costs, decreasing returns, and a polluted environment pushed to the brink of collapse. A system of farming that consistently relies on taxpayers supports, is vulnerable to economic and climatic shocks, and quite frankly is not fit for purpose in this new world.
But in the design of the current CAP (2023-2027), when the citizens of the EU were consulted about what they wanted their money to be spent on – cheap food didn’t get a mention. The three most pressing issues were delivering a fair standard of living for farmers, removing pressures on the environment and dealing with climate change.
But the goalposts have shifted again, and with a reduced CAP budget proposed next time round, the focus many farm representatives have now moved towards is ‘Food Security’.
This begs the question: just whose food security are they talking about?
Is it the food security of the millions of people we feed with fast food burgers across the EU?
Or the gym enthusiasts who wolf down gallons of protein shakes after their workouts? (Or the new rise in demand for protein shakes for the millions of people on Ozempic)
Or the Americans who lap up the Kerrygold butter?
While all the above are essential outlets for the Irish agri-food sector, is it at the expense of food security in our own country?
Because food security in an Irish context is not a done deal, and this is well known. We may be a food-producing nation overall, but we import over 80% of the fruit and vegetables we eat. This isn’t just the avocados for our toast, and the easy peelers for our lunch boxes; it’s staples like apples, potatoes, carrots, onions, broccoli, cabbage and tomatoes – fruit and vegetables that can readily be grown here… if the supports were there. We are also heavily dependent on imported milling wheat for bread, and we even import about 30% of our milk for drinking!
This is a far cry from the food security we need as a nation, and something that may need to be addressed sooner rather than later as energy and fuel costs hit all-time highs, making long supply chains more challenging, more expensive and possibly impossible.
What can be done?
Perhaps a realignment of the direct payments system towards supporting the development of those sectors would be a better use of the CAP funding if real food security is a priority.
The challenges associated with a changing climate, increased input costs, volatile global markets, and genuine food security issues need to be addressed by the next CAP. More subsidies for “active farmers” doing business-as-usual farming will not change anything.
How about adjusting the conditionality around income payments to support a more integrated approach to Irish agriculture – to strengthen rather than weaken the relationships among the various sectors – so that the sector moves ahead with a unified approach, rather than the ‘whack-a-mole’ approach that is usually adopted.
Support for the integration of horticultural, arable and livestock enterprises where possible, to ensure soil fertility rotations. Support livestock farmers to utilise a certain proportion of Irish grain in their feed rations; income supports to grow and develop the horticulture sector; and supports to enable arable farmers to grow milling wheat. Better incorporation of trees onto farms and more diversity of crops and grasses. I could go on!
Greater systems thinking is needed for the next CAP, and that thinking should be embedded in working with natural processes. By enabling nature to do some of the heavy lifting, fewer inputs are needed, and resilience is built.
And working collectively as an agricultural sector to shorten supply chains and support a wider range of food producers will help redefine a new future for agriculture and food production on this island. Because the current system isn’t working.
Dr Pippa Hackett is a former Green Party Minister of State in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. She has a PhD and runs a farming and bloodstock enterprise with her husband in Co Offaly.
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