After constituency hustings hosted by the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association the resounding unanimous call coming from all election candidates is to Get Convergence Done, according to INHFA President Colm O’Donnell.
This comment came after the Donegal and Sligo / Leitrim election meetings where all candidates including those from Fine Gael have weighed in behind the Farm Organisations call for full convergence of CAP Pillar 1 payments during the next CAP programme and its continuation during the Transition period.

"It is no longer credible", stated O’Donnell "that direct farm supports are still related to the level of livestock activity on farms twenty years ago. The European Commission has set a pathway whereby nineteen member states have already reached full internal convergence in 2019 and has drafted Transition Regulation for Ireland’s internal convergence model to continue over the interim period until the new CAP programme kicks in".
The farm Leader continued by saying, "that our current Agriculture Minister Michael Creed has indicated that it is his intention to pause the convergence process for the next two years, citing that it would be' unfair 'to continue because of a potential cut in the CAP budget and no operational need to implement the Commission proposal at this stage".

"What is unfair is that for the next two years such a pause would potentially see one farmer receiving €48 per hectare and another receiving €210 per hectare for the same measure in the Greening scheme where both farmers are paid for the retention of permanent grassland on their farms."

Concluding, O’Donnell said" that anyone attempting to defend the Ministers position is seriously putting future European taxpayers funding for environmental measures at risk and could see further reductions to our national envelope". Next week the INHFA Election roadshow moves onto the Galway West constituency on Tuesday night 28th at Peacocks, Maam Cross, then onto Roscommon /East Galway at Castlerea Mart canteen on Wednesday 29th and then the Mayo constituency on Friday 31st at the Castlecourt Hotel, Westport .
All meetings are open to the public and starts at 8pm.

The Irish Natura & Hill Farmers Association is holding a number of public meetings throughout the west and northwest to inform farmers of details relating to the upcoming CAP reform. This reform will see significant changes in the make-up of schemes that will impact on farmer’s income through the coming decade.

With election candidates in each constituency invited to these meetings there is stated National President Colm O’Donnell “the need to ensure that this CAP reform becomes an election issue as it has the potential to deliver a major income boost for western farmers.” This income boost he continued “will only happen through a fairer redistribution of Pillar 1 payments and a Government commitment to ensure an annual Pillar 2 fund of at least €750m.”

Payments made through the CAP are stated O’Donnell “a vital part of farmer income that sees farmers in Connacht and Donegal receive just over €295m in Pillar 1 Payments which includes the Basic Income and Greening. While these payments have increased by over €20m through the current CAP Program there is the potential of a further increase of over €50m if we continue on the convergence model towards the full flattening of payments to €250/ha.”

While the upcoming CAP continued the farm leader “has the potential to deliver major gains for farmers in the region there is no guarantee that this will happen. Currently payments made through Pillar 1 have benefited larger land holders on better land as exemplified through the Greening payment. Here we see many farmers receive less than €50/ha for adhering to specific measures relating to climate change while others receive over €200/ha for adhering to the exact same measure. In the INHFA we are working to ensure that issues such as these are resolved but we need the support from farmers to help make this happen.”
In addressing issues around new schemes such as the proposed eco-scheme O’Donnell stated that “the conditionality around these schemes could pose problems, even for those who are farming to very high environmental standards. These issues as well as concerns on some GAEC proposals we are working through with officials in the EU Commission and are hopeful of a positive outcome.”

On Pillar 2 which covers the ANC, GLAS, Sheep Welfare and the BDGP there is he added “an opportunity to deliver significant support for our suckler and sheep sectors provided our Government is willing to back it with the required funding.”
The INHFA leader concluded by encouraging all farmers to attend stating “how a good turn-out, will send a very strong message to all election candidates who will have a major influence on the final CAP outcome.”
Public Meetings scheduled as follows:

Thursday 23rd January. Sligo/Leitrim Clayton Hotel, Sligo Town.
Tuesday 28th January. Galway West Constituency: Peacocks Hotel, Maam Cross, Co Galway
Wednesday 29th January. Roscommon/East Galway: Castlerea Mart, Co Roscommon
Friday 31st January. Mayo Constituency: Castlecourt Hotel, Westport, Co Mayo

Speaking in advance of the Beef Market Taskforce meeting scheduled for the 9th of January, the President of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) Colm O’Donnell has stated, "that the €40 million available to the Suckler Cow sector for 2020 must become a priority for implementation by the Taskforce".

"Additional direct supports for the suckler cow as a priority is the exact wording in the agreement", continued O’Donnell, "so this must be addressed as a matter of urgency at the next meeting in order to target support at a sector which is extremely vulnerable at the present time".

The INHFA has already highlighted to Minister Creed and the Beef Taskforce Chairman that recent DAFM schemes have discriminated unfairly against smaller suckler herds who have not participated because of the complex nature and conditionality attached to BDGP, BEEP and BEAM.

O'Donnell went on to say, "On average the three current support measures in place have approximately an uptake level of just 25% or 15,000 suckler farmers out of a total of close on 60,000 farmers deemed to be eligible for support".

Concluding, the national farm leader said "that it is vital that the Minister now comes forward with a new focus in how his Department draw up new schemes that has the ability to both deliver on the objectives of the next CAP programme whilst ensuring the equal treatment of all suckler farmers".

The President of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) Colm O’Donnell has again called on the Minister for Agriculture to target the €40 million available for the suckler sector in 2020 towards a pilot scheme that will help to transition all suckler farmers to meet the societal demands being placed on Beef production by the European Commission in the next iteration of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP)..
"While this is the huge challenge, there's an opportunity for the Minister and the Department of Agriculture to now come forward with a well thought out sustainable Suckler scheme that meets the societal demands set out in Objective 9 of the CAP Legislative Proposals", explained O'Donnell. "These demands centre around public health, animal health and welfare, insisting on a reduction in Antibiotic usage in Beef production".
"I am calling on Minister Creed to look seriously at drawing up a pilot scheme that meets these societal demands but most importantly, that all suckler farmers that are currently excluded from the most recent offerings drawn up by his Department, can now become part of his plans going forward.
Currently, 75% of our 60,000 suckler farmers are excluded from BDGP, BEEP and BEAM because of either budget constraints, conditionality or the complexities associated with compliance".

"Enough is enough", concluded O'Donnell who finished by stating that" if the majority of Suckler farmers in this country are ignored this time then there's only one other option left and that's to inform the European Commission by next August 2020 of the need to provide Sectoral support to Sucklers which is catered for under Omnibus Regulation making it possible to couple support to a vulnerable sector ".

The national President of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association (INHFA) Colm O’Donnell has stated, " that the Agriculture Minister, Mr Michael Creed has finally shown his true colours and nailed them firmly to the mast in his decision to direct payments away from farmers with the lowest per hectare values in favour of rewarding those with the highest values per hectare"."This decision runs contrary to the basic European Union guiding principle for its citizens, in that its their legitimate expectation to be treated equally as beneficiaries of CAP payments".

"If the Irish Ministers intentions to pause internal convergence during the transition period were not to be challenged by the INHFA ," continued O’Donnell, "serious irreparable permanent damage will be done to the future sustainability of up to 70,000 farms that are currently deemed either vulnerable or unsustainable by our National DAFM advisory service".

The farm leader went on to say, "the European Commission has drafted transition regulation proposing the continuation of the internal convergence mechanism as the core process for a more equitable distribution of direct income support among farmers, where significant individual differences based on old historic references become more and more difficult to justify.
In addition to this, if you consider the negative impact a convergence pause will have on the 30% Pillar 1 Greening requirements, that being the retention of Permanent Grassland. You could see one farmer with a Greening payment per hectare of €48 and another with a Greening payment of €210 per hectare for possibly the next 3 years, which is totally unacceptable and puts at risk future funding supports being pledged by European tax payer's for Green elements of the next CAP. "

The INHFA President concluded by saying, "that under no circumstances will the INHFA give the Minister an unchallenged run with his intended convergence pause, we will fight tooth and nail on this issue on behalf of the thousands of vulnerable farmers potentially affected. An emergency National Council meeting has been called for next Thursday 19th of December to advise members on a course of action".