Jimmy Cosgrave, ICSA suckler chairman, has commented that the recent Teagasc National Farm Survey 2021 results indicate that ICSA’s call for substantially higher suckler supports is entirely valid.
“Minister McConalogue has made a major mistake in not including a coupled payment for suckler farmers in the CAP strategic plan. This is all the more evident when we see that in 2021, dairy farms made nine times more income than suckler farms,” he said.
“Already, it is clear that the divergence between suckler and dairy incomes in 2022 will be even more pronounced. Yet the reality is that the CAP strategic plan is not fit for purpose given that it is taking money away from suckler farmers. This is because the proposed new suckler scheme delivers less money per cow than the combination of BDGP and BEEP currently available.”
Chairman Cosgrave went on to say: “Suckler farming is vital to the economies of many rural communities especially in the west of Ireland. It is simply not viable for small or fragmented holdings, or those on marginal land, to make large-scale investment to convert to dairying. In any event, the signal is coming from processors and government that we have enough dairy farmers now. The Minister must face up to the reality that suckler farming needs higher supports, and this must be delivered.”
“The ICSA proposal for CAP proposed a coupled payment on top of the other suckler schemes to deliver a €300/cow payment. We have also recently discussed other avenues with the Minister to direct more funding to the sector. Either way, we cannot continue with suckler farming delivering an average €10,900 at a time when costs are going through the roof.”