Barry Cowen outlines priorities for next CAP agreement

Barry Cowen TD, the Fianna Fáil candidate in the European Elections for the Midlands North West, has outlined his priorities for the next Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) agreement.

Farming and sustainable food production is a key priority of Deputy Cowen’s campaign, and he will be a strong and knowledgeable voice for farmers in Europe if elected on June 7th.

Deputy Cowen has an extensive track record in the agriculture sector, and has elaborated on his intentions for the next CAP agreement in order to negotiate the best possible deal for farmers and food producers.

“First and foremost, I will be advocating for a significant increase in funding and rebalancing of the CAP towards food production. We cannot keep asking more and more of farmers while paying them less and less, continuously going back to the CAP to fund everything,” Deputy Cowen began.

“There needs to be greater understanding on the issues farmers are facing, and we need to make their lives easier and incentivise them. The best way to start is by simplifying things with less bureaucracy and red tape. Farmers were promised simplification in the last CAP, this has not been delivered.

“Farmers are being weighed down by paperwork, and worse again this contributed towards huge frustration as many have experienced a delay in payments. The bureaucratic load on farmers is out of control, I am committed to easing the burden, with simplification a key priority of mine, allowing them to focus on what they are good at, farming.

“Secondly, we must replace the income foregone and costs incurred metric and instead introduce a reward-based scheme that rewards farmers for delivery. Currently scheme payment rates only compensate farmers for their costs and time with no reward for delivery. I want to change that, we need to provide farmers with a payment that covers their costs, their time and reward them for delivery.

“Thirdly, we need more production-focused schemes that will help farmers to bridge the income gap for those farmers negatively impacted by the last CAP. We also need a frontloading of funding and supports for sustainability and emission reduction schemes that are separate and distinct from CAP.

“Farmers not only need a strong voice in Europe, they need a knowledgeable, experienced representative who is a tough negotiator. I am that voice. The disconnect between farmers and food producers cannot be allowed to continue. Farmers can count on me,” concluded Deputy Cowen.