Slashing Space for Nature? Ireland Backsliding on CAP basics

Summary of an article of Oliver Moore (https://www.arc2020.eu/slashing-space-for-nature-ireland-backsliding-on-cap-basics/)

The process to design a CAP Strategic Plan for the period 2023-2027 is coming to a conclusion after more than 3 years of negotiation. Critical new features of the CAP are new conditions for farmers to get the Basic Income Support (GAECs, Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition and SMRs – Statutory Mandatory Requirements) and eco-schemes – which replace greening.

Cutting space for nature on farms, from its own proposed level of 5% to just 4%, is the most brutal of adjustments mooted by the Department of  Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) in one of the final CAP consultations last Thursday. The Department proposes to further weaken this ambition by including crops in these areas, overall making a mockery of the no backsliding principle of the Common Agriculture Policy.  A list of five for the most part unambitious eco-schemes has also been announced, which will do little to move Irish agriculture towards a more environmentally sustainable place. 

Eco-schemes will make up 25% of the Pillar one budget, and will thus account for hundreds of million of euro annually. The Public Consultation on Proposed Interventions contains (just) five eco-scheme proposals: 

Eco-scheme Proposals Ireland

A. Non-productive areas and landscape features
Increased proportion of land devoted to non-productive areas and features above the baseline required under GAEC 
B. Extensive livestock production
Specified maximum overall stocking rate for the calendar year.
C. Limiting Chemical Nitrogen Input
Specified Chemical Nitrogen usage limit for the calendar year.
D. Planting of Native Trees
Planting a minimum number of native trees per eligible hectare.
E. Use of GPS Controlled fertiliser spreader to apply chemical fertilisers
Application of chemical fertiliser with a GPS controlled fertiliser spreader

At a series of meetings, various stakeholder groups met with DAFM and a core issue with these is the lack of change or ambition in the eco-schemes. Farmers will have to do two to gain full Pillar one payment.