Hill farmers demand scientific approach on ANC criteria

QUALIFICATION for ANC payments must be based on scientific evaluation and if lands don’t meet the criteria then they should not receive a payment.

This was the stark message delivered by Colm O’Donnell, INHFA chairman, at a packed meeting in Peacockes of Maam Cross last Friday evening.

Mr O’Donnell recognised that some political parties and farm organisations wanted no payment cuts under the ANC review being undertaken by the Department of Agriculture. However, he insisted that ANC designations had to be made on “biophysical criteria” and payments structures had to reflect the level of constraint identified.

The INHFA chairman repeated his call that the farm organisations have an opportunity for consultation on the new maps before they are sent to Europe.

Fine Gael MEP Mairead McGuinness warned that any proposal to cut farmers’ payments would be contentious, but she said no decision had been taken on the review.

The INHFA want ANC payments front loaded for the first 20ha.

Underspends

The association has also called for the overall ANC budget to be increased from €220m to €300m, with the extra funding to be drawn from the RDP and underspends on the GLAS and Beef Data Genomics Programme.

The call for increased funding for the ANC was supported by Fianna Fáil’s Eamon O Cuiv.

He called for the projected €400m underspend in the RDP up to 2020 to be used to increase the ANC budget.

Sinn Fein’s Martin Kenny claimed that the areas on the west coast which were in receipt of the ANC were also the areas which had the least options for farmers to diversify and work off farm.

The different payment rates for the varying land quality designations provoked heated exchanges at the Galway meeting.

Speakers claimed that the €13/ha difference currently in place – between more severely and less severely constrained lands – was not a fair reflection of the level of difficulty involved in farming the land.