ICMSA welcome 2020 National Reserve announcement but further linear reductions to farmers’ payments ‘cannot’ be part of future policy

FOLLOWING a meeting between the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and farm organisations, the Deputy President of ICMSA has said that the announcement of a 2020 National Reserve is very welcome and shows a consistency of support for young farmers in an ever-changing agriculture sector. Lorcan McCabe was particularly positive about the fact that the 2020 scheme will show no changes in the basic terms and conditions, meaning that the off-farm income limits, age and set-up requirements remain in place. There will be close to €3m euro allocated this year, a figure that’s similar to previous years and this is being funded through the 20% ‘clawback’ from sales of entitlements and the non-use of entitlements for two years.

The ‘clawback’ on the sale of Entitlements will remain the same for 2020 and ICMSA asked the Department to consider future policy options to ensure that the benefit of entitlements comes to the farmer rather than the landowner. With inflation eroding the value of entitlements and convergence having a negative impact on many farmers’ payments, the future funding of the National Reserve will come under scrutiny in the coming years and we’re warning now that an linear cut to the BPS - or the Basic Income Support Scheme as it will be known Post 2020 - will not be tolerated by farmers. Payments have been cut enough and farmers simply cannot afford additional reductions to their payments. Alternative funding sources will have to be developed for the National Reserve and it is essential and will become increasingly obvious that only people who are actually farming should receive payments going forward”, concluded Mr. McCabe.