Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 September 2014
8. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his proposals to resolve the difficulties faced by farmers with commonage land due to his proposals in relation to eligibility for the basic payment, the payment for areas of natural constraint and the GLAS scheme for farmers with commonage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35172/14]
View answerAs the Minister knows, there has been substantial disquiet in all the counties that have significant numbers of farmers with commonage. I recognise that there has been some movement in that regard. I welcome the meetings on this issue that will take place around the country in the next week. Can the Minister outline the present state of play with regard to commonage farmers and collective agreements? Will all farmers be required to put stock up on the hill? Public meetings do not always get down to the nitty-gritty. Other than those meetings, what process is in place to resolve what needs to be resolved?
I hope the public meetings will involve workshop-type sessions, rather than a group of people lecturing from the stage. The idea underpinning the commonage areas implementation group is that a group of experienced people, who are farmer-friendly, speak a language everybody understands and have an appreciation of commonage farming, will sit down and work out with farmers what they need to do to qualify for basic payments. It is very straightforward. The only thing a farmer will be required to do to get a single farm payment is have a minimum stocking rate of one ewe per 1.5 hectares. Essentially, he or she will need to have one sheep for each area of between three and a half and four acres. Obviously, we discussed this very low stocking rate with the farming organisations before we settled on it. We have to be credible with the Commission. There needs to be some level of proof that there is farming activity going on in the hills. The obvious way to do that is to focus on stocking levels. The only thing a farmer has to do to qualify for a single farm payment is have a stocking rate of one ewe per 1.5 hectares by the end of next year. If one has not been doing much farming over recent years, or if one has a very low stocking rate, one should be fine as long as one builds up a basic stocking rate before the end of next year. If one is farming in an area where a lower stocking rate is required because of environmental restrictions, that is fine. One automatically qualifies as long as one has some level of stocking. There seems to have been a great deal of confusion about how farmers with commonage can qualify for a single farm payment. I want to clarify that it is very easy for them to qualify. They just need to have some level of activity in the commonage land. We are measuring that by providing for a very low stocking rate threshold.
GLAS is a bit different. Commonage farmers will get priority access and acceptance into GLAS. As I said in response to an earlier question, if GLAS is to be credible, farmers have to do something else, other than qualifying for a single farm payment, to get €5,000. Essentially, they have to agree to farm in accordance with a GLAS commonage plan.
At least 50% of the active farmers in that commonage area or the farmers who own 50% of the area of the commonage have to be doing that. If, for whatever reason, farmers who want to apply to GLAS cannot get 50% of the active farmers in the commonage area to be part of it, they can work through the implementation group which will help them to do it. This is a practical response to the concerns that have been expressed in recent months.
One of the big questions for anyone familiar with commonage farming and hills would be what the "something extra" referred to by the Minister involves. What is the nature of the "something extra" that the 50% will have to agree to? As I understand it, the Department has said that farmers can join individually as long as there is a common plan for the commonage part of the farm. Is the Minister saying that the commonage plan will have to be agreed by 50% of the farmers or 50% of the area owners? Will 50% of those in ownership who have submitted an area aid form have to sign up to the commonage plan before anybody can get into the scheme?
On the first question, I suspect that a GLAS commonage plan would be required to include management of scrub, some limitations on burning, maintaining land in reasonable agricultural condition and so forth. These are the kinds of things that ensure that a commonage is protected in terms of its biodiversity and natural condition.
What about bird habitats?
I will leave that to the planners. I do not want to exactly prescribe a GLAS commonage plan but these are the kinds of things that could be included.
In order for farmers to draw down their payment of up to €5,000 under the terms of GLAS - based on €120 per hectare - or more than €5,000 under the GLAS plus scheme, at least half of the active farmers on that commonage will have to buy into it. Otherwise the scheme would not have any credibility in the eyes of the European Commission in the context of collective farming. We are not asking for a collective agreement. We are not even saying that every farmer has to use the same planner. All we are saying is that there must be a plan in place. The implementation group will help to ensure that such a plan is put in place and farmers can then sign up to it either through their own planner or by working with the planner who has put the plan in place. They must then farm in a way that is consistent with the commonage plan. If there is a problem with numbers the implementation group can help by speaking to other farmers who, for whatever reason, may not want to be part of it.
I submitted a written parliamentary question last week but I am still confused by the answer I received. I ask the Minister to clarify the issue on the floor of the House. In terms of the basic payment, the rural development plan stipulates that a farmer on marginal land must keep the equivalent of one ewe to 1.5 hectares, with exceptions for designated land. That is a very low stocking rate and in fact, most farmers would keep the equivalent of one ewe to 1 hectare. Will the farmers all be obliged to put some of their stock on the marginal land or the commonage? For reasons of viability, some older farmers do not bother using the hills and only use the lowland; other farmers benefit from that because they can then put more stock up on the hills. Between Jack Sprat and the wife, they get the job done.
I understand the question.
I would like the Minister to clarify the situation in such circumstances.
I am well aware that commonage farming does not operate in such a way that everybody contributes the exact same level of stocking rate. That would be a nonsense. There are some very active farmers in commonage areas and some less active farmers. However, in order for farmers to qualify for a single farm payment, they will have to have some stock in the commonage area for which they are applying for the payment. That said, they do not have to have the same level of stock as, for example, their neighbour who may be much more active.
One of the reasons we have an implementation group is to explain that there are flexibilities here. There must be flexibilities because this is collective farming. Some farmers in the commonage will contribute less, some more but the average overall stocking rate numbers need to be appropriate to the commonage and the way in which it is farmed needs to be consistent if they are to draw down a GLAS payment with a GLAS commonage plan. There will be the flexibility between farmers. No one expects all farmers to have the exact same percentage.
Must one have some stock?
One must have some stock. Otherwise one is effectively getting a payment for not farming.
We must go on to the next question. This question is going on all day.
The point at issue is that some farmers farm the lowland but not the commonage. The Minister states that now those farmers must put sheep on the commonage.
Some stock.
If they do, can the Minister imagine trying to find ten ewes on 200 acres or 500 acres? In reality, that is what he is imposing on farmers. I will show him the figures in the folders to prove it.
Can I get this right? Is Deputy Ó Cuív suggesting that farmers who are not farming on land would draw down payments on that land?
That is what he seems to be suggesting. They are putting stock onto a piece of land somewhere else but they are drawing down payments on a commonage area in which they are not involved in farming.
It is the practicalities.
If we were to take that approach, when it was audited by the Commission we would have another LIPIS-type issue on our hands whereby farmers would be drawing down payments on land in which they are not involved in farming. We must have a minimum level of agricultural activity in the commonage areas where farmers are drawing down payments and we should be able to manage that in a way that allows farmers to do that. If farmers decide to not do that and to focus on other land, they should not draw down payments on the land on which they are not farming.
