There are fresh calls today (Saturday, April 18) for the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget to include "increased funding to a minimum of 130% of the current budget".

According to the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers' Association (INHFA) proposed cuts to the next CAP budget, would if applied, "decimate" the agricultural sector and wider rural communities.

The budget for the current CAP, due to run until 2027, stands at €387 billion.

But the proposed CAP allocation post 2027 is approximately €294 billion at EU level - a reduction of around 20% in nominal terms compared with the current CAP period.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, has said that the indicative CAP allocation for Ireland would stand at €8.16 billion for 2028-2034 - which compares to €10.7 billion in the current programming period, a reduction of between 20% and 24%.

CAP

However in a new move earlier this week a key committee of the European Parliament has officially called for the next CAP to be allocated €433 billion for the 2028-2034 period.

The parliament's budget committee adopted its official negotiating mandate on the EU's long-term budget - the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) - in a meeting on Wednesday (April 15).

The committee's position was adopted in a vote by 26 votes in favour and nine against, with five abstentions.

The position of the budget committee will be highly influential in the wider parliament's position when it goes to negotiate the shape of the next MFF and CAP with the Council of the EU (council of ministers).

INHFA

The INHFA has strongly backed the parliament's budget committee's position.

Pheilim Molloy, the organisation's president said farmers need “a well-funded CAP budget" to support "the production of food and the ever increasing environmental burden.”

Molloy also pointed to "escalating input costs, including energy, feed, fertiliser, and compliance-related expenses" as key reasons why the CAP budget should be extended.

He also believes that there there is a new emphasis on the need to "safeguard food security across the European Union" and that there is a "disproportionate economic vulnerability of extensive and marginal farming systems".

Molloy has welcomed the parliament's budget committee's position and “is hopeful that this proposal will be supported by other parliamentary committees and across other EU institutions.”