AGRICULTURAL cuts in the budget were described as a direct hit of €50m on farm incomes and flying in the face of the contribution agriculture is making to jobs and exports in the economy.
IFA president John Bryan was highly critical of cuts to REPS4.
“The option of entering an AEOS3 scheme in 2012 must be available to all farmers leaving REPS3. In addition, there has to be a mechanism through an appeals system for the disadvantaged areas, which caters for all those farm families affected by the changes,” said Mr Bryan.
“The government commitment to maintain support for forestry and the Suckler Cow Welfare Scheme will underpin production in these sectors,” he added. John Bryan said the introduction of a capital-asset test for higher education grants must exclude agricultural land, as it would deny access to higher education to many students from farm families. Mr Bryan said households would also be affected by the new charges and cuts in services announced and he urged the government to ensure that services for rural dwellers are maintained. The IFA president said the decision to impose a new dairy marketing levy comes as a shock, as dairy farmers have not been consulted and already pay a marketing levy to the IDB.”
Dairy farmers must be fully consulted and will need a lot of convincing on why this levy is justified and how this money is going to be spent,” he said.
Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) national president Gabriel Gilmartin described the announcements on expenditure cuts as providing mixed signals to the farming community.
“While the announcements are not as severe as previously anticipated, the fact remains that a cut of €105 million to the agriculture budget will translate into some cuts to farm income, particularly with a €30 million cut in the Disadvantaged Area Scheme and a €19 million cut to REPS,” Mr Gilmartin said.
“The problem is that agriculture has been asked to take 4.7% of the total €2.2 billion expenditure this year, even though it only accounted for 2.8% of gross-voted expenditure in 2011. What’s worse is that more of the same is predicted for next year and the year after. Government must realise that ongoing cuts to farm schemes will deter farmers from investing with a view to expanding exports in line with Food Harvest 2020 targets,” he added.