Farm payments highlight the great divide

TEN Clare farmers shared almost €839,000 between them last year under the Single Farm Payment Scheme (SFP) while, at the lower end of the scale, one farmer received less than €82.

 

With additional payments under REPS, now the Agri-Environmental Option Scheme (AEOS) and the Suckler Cow Scheme, some farmers received over €100,000 through the post. In fact, one farmer, with a combination of SFP and AEOS, collected over €130,000 in 2012.

The biggest single payment under the SFP was €99,299.50, in the AEOS it was €41,391.60, while the biggest payment on the Suckler Cow Scheme was €7,247.63. In stark contrast, the lowest Suckler Cow payment was a mere €26.80.

The figures have emerged from a Clare Champion examination of Department of Agriculture statistics on payments to Clare farmers over the past couple of years.

A year earlier, the top 10 SFP payments were actually higher, taking into account the 3% annual modulation system.

The top 10 most productive Clare farmers earned direct payments totalling €922,916 in 2011, while the bottom 10 collected €957 in total over the same period.

One Clare farmer was paid €132,920 under the SFP in 2011, which was in sharp contrast to the lowest paid part-time farmer at €23.86.

In the same year, 5,854 Clare farmers were paid €50,548,703, which translates into an average of €8,634 per farmer. Disadvantages Area Scheme payments for 5,952 Clare farmers totalled €14,954,680, giving an average payment of €2,512.

Payments under REPS and its replacement, AEOS, totalled €13,624,986 for 1,794 landowners in 2011, which produced an average allowance in the region of €7,700.

The smallest direct aid was the Suckler Cow Scheme, where the payment has been halved from €80 to €40 and the total figure came to €2,218,065 for 2,444 producers, leaving an average of €907.

The official statistics also show €2.553 million was paid in total for all schemes to the top 10 producers in 2011. This includes Area Based, REPS and AEOS, SFP and Suckler Cow schemes.

The huge disparity in the total amount of direct payments to farmers has prompted calls for a fairer way of redistributing direct supports, particularly to small and medium-sized operators.

While local farm leaders acknowledge the current system is due to be radically changed under new CAP proposals, Clare IFA chairman, Andrew Dundas has warned the proposed change to a new flat rate payment system would result in a much greater disparity unless it is amended.

Mr Dundas explained the current system is based on outdated production and acreage figures, based on the reference years of 2000, 2001 and 2002.

Acknowledging the current regime is not sustainable, he argued the flat rate proposal would result in an even greater disparity, with a small farmer with 30 hectares set to lose up to €6,000 if the new rate drops from €450 to €250 per hectare.

He insisted the new system should instead be based on production rates regardless of size, stocking rates or required labour units, which would be much fairer than the flat rate.

He also pointed out the SFP was introduced to compensate farmers for producing food at below cost prices.

Clare ICMSA chairman Martin McMahon said beef and suckler cow farmers who couldn’t afford to keep their stock on the land for the 10 and 22-month premium payments, were penalised under the SFP system, while other producers who bought the cattle and finished them benefited disproportionally.

Fine Gael Deputy Pat Breen said the reason for the difference between the top 10 and bottom 10 recipients could be in relation to geographical landscape and different quality of land and hence stock density in different parts of the county.

“The Government want to ensure that productive farmers stay productive and that they are given the support to be able to grow and expand and produce more food.

“By the same token, we want to ensure that smaller and poorer farmers, of which they are many in County Clare who don’t have productive land, get the supports they need to stay in farming.

“Obviously, it is a balancing act. While we have to ensure that participation by younger farmers is encouraged, we have to protect the family farms that we have, particularly here in County Clare and that farmers who improve their methods of production should not be penalised,” he said.