Farmers must embrace change in CAP

Issued : Thursday 8 July, 2010

Speaking from the European Parliament in Strasbourg

Speaking after the vote on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy, Alan Kelly described the report as positive for farmers but warns that farmers must be prepared for change.

"Today's vote by the European Parliament demonstrates that the parliament fully believes in the future of CAP.

"We must always bear in mind that there are many opponents of CAP, however CAP clearly has a democratic mandate and the parliament will defend it.

"Now what exactly does this vote mean for the farming community.

"Firstly, it demonstrates that CAP should be budgeted adequately and maintained at current levels. While I have reservations about how the budget is used, trying to maintain it at current levels is positive news for the farming community.

"Secondly this report enshrines the principal that farmers can generate income from providing environmental services to society. The market will not reward farmers for the fact that their farms are a major component in tackling climate change.

"Thirdly, the report recognises that the food market is operating in such a way that farmers are being completely screwed by large retailers. The people who make the product should be the people to generate the profit from it. This document tries to tackle that.

"However the most important signal for the Irish farming community is that the report moves the direct payment away from the historical calculation method. The parliament today has shown that the historical system is not the best system to go forward.

"I hope that Irish farmers heed this. We don't want to isolate ourselves when it comes to these negotiations. As someone who will defend the Irish farming community with everything I have, I am concerned that Irish farmers do not seem ready to move away from the historical system.

"For the long term future of Irish farming, I think it would be wise to heed the details of today's report and listen to the Commissioner when he disagrees with the historical model. Today's report is mostly very good news for farmers, but the signal is - farmers must be prepared to embrace change.