Vol. 561 No. 3
2 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the steps he is taking to maintain and increase farm incomes; his proposals to enter into meaningful discussions with farm organisations on farm incomes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4151/03]
In 2002 public expenditure by the Department of Agriculture and Food amounted to €2.8 billion. A record €1.6 billion of this was spent on direct payments to farmers which accounted for nearly 69% of aggregate farm income and an average payment of €13,000 per farmer. This very high level of public expenditure underlines the commitment of the Government to the Irish agri-food sector. At the same time, it should be remembered that farming is a cyclical business and is dependent on a number of factors, including the weather and returns from the market, both of which contributed to the overall income decline in 2002.
With regard to those areas within my responsibility, I will continue to support farm incomes by maximising the level of direct payments to farmers, ensuring that the EU Commission utilises all available market management tools to support the markets and providing the best possible development framework for the sector.
While bearing in mind that farming and farm incomes are market related and that farmers are not wage earners in the traditional sense, there is always scope for the farm organisations to contribute to the development and improvement of policies that have an impact on farm incomes. While emphasis may be placed at times on social partnership talks and the role of the farming pillar – I acknowledge this is important – it is often forgotten that my Department and its officials have always welcomed the input of farmers, farm organisations, the agri-food industry, consumers and the public into the departmental policy-making process on an ongoing basis. The policies adopted and market environment can assist farming significantly.
I think the Minister will agree there was a significant drop in farm incomes last year. We have the figure of 8.5% but we also have the EUROSTAT figure showing that Ireland came in third worst of EU countries. That figure in itself is highly significant and it has not really been addressed in terms of the European situation. There is also a figure from Teagasc which shows that farm incomes were 15% to 25% less than the average wage. That figure was reported recently. Is there any methodology or precise mechanism by which we can interpret farm incomes? There is considerable confusion among the public as to what farm incomes are in real terms. Most people are of the view that farm incomes are significantly less than the average income – 15% to 25% according to the Teagasc figure. Will the Minister outline how we might interpret, or get a fix on, farm incomes?
Farm incomes and their determination are extremely complex. The bare statistics conceal the complexity of incomes because, as I said, they are not, in the traditional sense, wages or salaries since farmers are self-employed. A number of bodies compile statistics on farm incomes, including the CSO, EUROSTAT, Teagasc and the national anti-poverty strategy. I would welcome agreement by an objective independent body on what might be a reasonable interpretation of the figures because with statistics a variety of interpretations may be reached. The point I continue to make is that if people wish to compare figures and statistics in relation to incomes, they should compare like with like.
