ICSA Rural Development chair Edmond Phelan has said proposals to introduce a 1LU/ha minimum stocking rate for CAP eligibility would unfairly penalise thousands of genuine drystock farmers on marginal land. “The current CAP threshold is 0.1LU/ha, so increasing it to 1LU/ha would represent a ten-fold increase that would effectively leave thousands of suckler, sheep and drystock farmers without any CAP payment whatsoever. The proposal should be binned,” he said.

Mr Phelan was responding to a proposal by ICMSA that a minimum stocking rate of 1LU/ha should form part of the definition of an active farmer under the next CAP.

Continuing, Mr Phelan said, “Many farmers, particularly in western and upland areas, are farming land that simply cannot sustain that level of stocking intensity. These are genuine food producers operating in some of the most difficult farming conditions in the country. To suggest they are somehow less deserving of support because they farm extensively is completely wrong.”

 Mr Phelan said that excluding lower-stocked farms from support would have serious consequences for rural Ireland. “These farms are keeping land actively farmed, supporting rural communities and producing quality beef and lamb in areas where farming options are already limited. Generational renewal will not be helped by pushing more family farms towards unviability.”

 He said the proposal was deeply divisive and highlighted the importance of drystock farmers standing together in future CAP negotiations. “There is no future in one sector of farming trying to advance itself at the expense of another. CAP must recognise the value of extensive drystock farming systems and the contribution they make both economically and environmentally,” he said.