Update: Common Agricultural Policy Reform, 2nd July 2015

Parliamentary Question No. 133  
 
 
 
 
To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent to which he remains satisfied that farm families here will continue to benefit from Common Agricultural Policy reform in a fair and equitable fashion; and if he will make a statement on the matter.  

– Bernard J. Durkan.  
 

 
For WRITTEN answer on Wednesday, 1st July, 2015.  
 
Ref No: 26658/15 Proof: 137
 
 

REPLY  
 

The Minister for Agriculture, Food      and the Marine  : (Simon Coveney)  

I am satisfied that farm families in Ireland will continue to benefit from the reformed CAP in a fair and equitable fashion.  
 
The 2013 reforms agreed to the Common Agriculture Policy set the policy framework for Irish and European agriculture for the period up to 2020 and are of central importance in shaping the future of agriculture policy for the rest of this decade. The outcome has a crucial bearing on the development of the Irish agri-food sector in accordance with the Food Harvest 2020 strategy. It also makes an important contribution to the achievement of the objectives in the Europe 2020 strategy, which aims to deliver smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The changes are consistent with the smart, green, growth objectives of Food Harvest and provide farmers and the agri-food sector with stability and policy certainty to 2020.  
 
There were three key aspects to the 2013 reforms:-  

1.    Greater emphasis has been placed on sustainability through the “greening” of direct payments and the requirement to support agri-environment measures in rural development programmes;  
2.  New and enhanced supports have been introduced for young farmers under both pillars on the CAP;  
3.  The reformed CAP has continued the movement towards greater market orientation, through the phasing out of production quotas for key products, the provision of safety-net supports in the case of sever  e  market disturbance and the introduction of flexible measures that can be mobilised promptly and effectively to deal with crises.  

 
Already the  additional flexibility to manage crises has allowed the EU Commission to introduce additional market support measures to address the effects of the Russian import ban on EU agri-food products. The changes made to the direct payments system, including the provisions on greening, come  into force this year and I am convinced that the reforms will help the agri-food sector in Ireland to achieve its full potential. Ireland’s Rural Development Programme  (RDP)  was formally adopted by the EU Commission  at the end of May    and marks the next step in the roll out of the reformed Common Agricultural Policy. Implementation has commenced of a number of key schemes contained in our RDP and the continued roll out of RDP schemes and supports will help to underpin economic growth and development throughout rural Ireland.  
 
In short, I believe that the reforms agreed under Ireland’s Presidency of the European Union  underpin the sustainable intensification of production in the years ahead, will support environmental stewardship and contribute to the maintenance of a vibrant rural economy.