IFA hold meeting on up to date position on CAP

A large crowd turned up an IFA open meeting in The Sligo Park Hotel last night (Monday) to update farmers on the state of play with the CAP negotiations.

Sligo was the first of the organisation’s open meetings and was attended by IFA President Joe Healy and senior officers.

The IFA said the purpose of the meetings was to update farmers on the IFA’s campaign to protect farmers’ direct payments and to appraise farmers of the key dates in 2019 that they need to be aware of.

The IFA President said: “The medium-term outlook for agriculture is very uncertain, not least as a result of policy and trade issues stemming from Brexit. 2019 is a critical year, given the decisions that will be made on CAP post-2020.

“The outcome of the CAP process will decide the Budget for Ireland and the level of support for Irish farmers for the next seven years.

“Direct payments are critical for farmers’ incomes and we expect the Government to fight for an increase in the CAP Budget.”

In addition, farmers were also be updated on what the recent ANC review means for them and how they can appeal the outcome if they were excluded.