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HomeBeefCSP changes: No suckler cow number limit & BPS cap of €66k
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CSP changes: No suckler cow number limit & BPS cap of €66k

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has made some changes to Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027.

Minister McConalogue said this comes following consultations with stakeholders “over the past few months and most recently, at mart meetings”.

In a statement, the DAFM said it has “afforded farmers in every sector and in every region to voice their questions on the CAP Strategic Plan”.

In this statement, the DAFM explained the CAP Strategic Plan Regulation contains several particular requirements for all EU Member States.

However, it outlined that some elements are “open to decision” at national level.

General changes:

  • The DAFM has updated the active farmer definition.
  • The section on conditionality now “better reflects the final political agreement”.

CAP changes 

Pillar 1:
  • It will implement CRISS with a financial allocation of 10% of the direct payments envelope. Payment on the first 30 hectares of all farms at a rate of approximately €43/hectare.
  • It will implement eco-schemes with a financial allocation of 25% of the direct payment’s envelope.
  • Also, it will implement capping to the maximum extent possible, giving an effective cap on payments of €66,000;
  • It will proceed with convergence 85% of the national average entitlement value for all entitlements by 2026.
CAP changes: Pillar 2:
  • It has announced financial allocations for all nationally co-financed elements of the CAP Strategic Plan.
  • The DAFM has removed the proposed restriction preventing any increase in the suckler cow herd size for Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme participants.
  • It has removed the proposed eligibility requirement for beneficiaries of the Sheep Improvement Scheme to participate in a Bord Bia Sustainable Lamb Assurance Scheme.
  • Also, it has expanded the Pillar 2 intervention to support early-stage Producer Organisations to allow support to an increased variety of sectors;
  • It has proposed On-farm Capital Investment intervention to offer a higher investment rate of 60% to qualified young farmers and qualified female farmers to support generational renewal and gender balance.
  • It has designed and included two new interventions:
    • Straw Incorporation Measure, building on the successful pilot scheme and programming it for the entire future CAP period. It aims to encourage tillage farmers to increase soil organic carbon levels by chopping and incorporating straw from cereal crops and oilseed rape.
    • Collaborative Farming Grant to build on the current Collaborative Farming Grant. This will provide parallel support for older farmers to access a similar support to encourage succession planning and facilitate generational renewal.
Green elements

In the statement, the DAFM said Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan will have a “particularly strong emphasis” on a higher level of climate and environmental ambition.

It will contain measures that will:

  • Help to achieve significant improvements in the areas of biodiversity and water quality;
  • Contribute to national and EU climate and environmental targets, including through increased sequestration and carbon removal.

Specifically, Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan will have a new green architecture to achieve this environmental ambition, with three main elements:

  • Achieving a baseline level of climate ambition through conditionality requirements that all farmers receiving direct payments must meet;
  • A new eco-scheme will be open to all active farmers. It will carry a financial allocation of 25% of total direct payments funding (approximately €297/per annum);
  • Ambitious, environmentally-focused Pillar II interventions to deliver significant long-term environmental improvement through participation by “a large number” of farmers. Each participant will make a strong contribution to the national ambition on their farm. They will take on board the learnings from, for example, locally-led European Innovation Partnership (EIP) projects.

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