As we approach the end of June there is serious concern that a deal will not be reached on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) before the EU presidency transfers from Ireland to Lithuania.
It is generally thought that if a deal is not reached under the Irish presidency there could be a long wait before there will be clarity as to what the reforms will look like which will be very damaging for farmers across Europe.
DEFRA secretary Owen Paterson said, "I think there's a 60:40 sporting chance we will get a deal on CAP reform under the Irish presidency. If not, next year's EU parliamentary elections will delay any deal even further."
Some of the major sticking points include whether or not there should be a ceiling on direct payments for large farms, what environmental or “greening” measures will become compulsory as of the scheme and how payments should be redistributed more fairly across the EU. All these matters have the capacity to become very contentious because of the very different types of farming across Europe.
In the UK the average size of our farms tend to be larger than most of the rest of Europe and so our farmers are not keen on limiting payments to large farms. Further, in England we already have a variety of environmental stewardship schemes in to which farmers have entered large areas of land and these farmers will not want to be compelled to take further land out of production under some form of compulsory greening measures. The obvious way forward from our perspective would be to allow such schemes to qualify as part of the compulsory greening measures but other countries in the EU will no doubt disagree.
As far as the level of payments is concerned, the countries which have entered the EU more recently are campaigning for their payments to be increased but this will be at the cost of those countries who already have higher payments.
Talks to try to resolve the current impasse are due to start in Luxembourg on 24th June and if I was to hazard a guess it is likely that an agreement will be reached because failure to do so would be incredibly damaging for farmers across Europe. This is not just because the support payments make a crucial contribution to a farmer’s ability to make a profit but also because there is nothing worse than a prolonged period of uncertainty to hold back investment in and development of any industry and agriculture is no exception in this respect.
James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk
It is generally thought that if a deal is not reached under the Irish presidency there could be a long wait before there will be clarity as to what the reforms will look like which will be very damaging for farmers across Europe.
DEFRA secretary Owen Paterson said, "I think there's a 60:40 sporting chance we will get a deal on CAP reform under the Irish presidency. If not, next year's EU parliamentary elections will delay any deal even further."
Some of the major sticking points include whether or not there should be a ceiling on direct payments for large farms, what environmental or “greening” measures will become compulsory as of the scheme and how payments should be redistributed more fairly across the EU. All these matters have the capacity to become very contentious because of the very different types of farming across Europe.
In the UK the average size of our farms tend to be larger than most of the rest of Europe and so our farmers are not keen on limiting payments to large farms. Further, in England we already have a variety of environmental stewardship schemes in to which farmers have entered large areas of land and these farmers will not want to be compelled to take further land out of production under some form of compulsory greening measures. The obvious way forward from our perspective would be to allow such schemes to qualify as part of the compulsory greening measures but other countries in the EU will no doubt disagree.
As far as the level of payments is concerned, the countries which have entered the EU more recently are campaigning for their payments to be increased but this will be at the cost of those countries who already have higher payments.
Talks to try to resolve the current impasse are due to start in Luxembourg on 24th June and if I was to hazard a guess it is likely that an agreement will be reached because failure to do so would be incredibly damaging for farmers across Europe. This is not just because the support payments make a crucial contribution to a farmer’s ability to make a profit but also because there is nothing worse than a prolonged period of uncertainty to hold back investment in and development of any industry and agriculture is no exception in this respect.
James Stephen MRICS FAAV
Partner
Rural Practice Chartered Surveyor, Wells
T: 01749 683381
E: james.stephen@carterjonas.co.uk
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