There have been strong comments made during the past week on which direction of the CAP reforms in Northern Ireland should take in the next number of years.

Ulster Farmers’ Union President, Harry Sinclair called on Northern Ireland’s politicians and administrators to ‘look to the future and not the past’ when it comes to implementing the reforms when he addressed the UFU’s annual dinner held at the Titanic Building, Belfast on Friday evening.

He said the the wrong decision would leave Northern Ireland’s agri-food industry “languishing in the wake” of its future-thinking neighbours.

In a clear message to guests he said, “The Union has presented a very clear, logical and robust proposal for implementing the reformed CAP. It is a proposal based on key principles such as minimising redistribution so as to ensure the sustainability of all farm businesses and a long transition period to allow farmers to time to plan their businesses as they move to a flatter rate payment. It is a proposal which we, as grass root farmers, covering all sectors and from all areas of Northern Ireland believe is best for the agricultural industry as a whole.

“So my challenge to our politicians and administrators is to look to the future not the past. Send a clear message that you are really genuine about growing the economy in Northern Ireland, and that you believe that agri-food is critical to that growth. That is why you need to ensure that targeted support is available for the most vulnerable sectors and that all farm businesses are given time to adapt to a future where support is reducing in overall terms. You need to send out a clear message that NI agri-food will be supported to grow and develop and compete in the new and emerging markets.” Earlier on Friday, the Union hosted a farming summit with representatives from the NFU, NFU Scotland and NFU Cymru.

The UFU will be among other organisations including DARD and the National Beef Association at a CAP meeting on Monday next in Greenmount Campus.

Meanwhile, the Severely Disadvantaged Association which now embraces the traditional SDA farmers in Fermanagh as well as those in the Sperrins, Antrim hills and Mournes, are defending their case for a single region.

Spokesman, Peter Gallagher said: “It is now over three months since a two region system with additional support for beef bred calves in the SDA was put forward as a preferred option by some. During these three months the debate has raged and the proposal has been highlighted as having many failings when placed under scrutiny.

“The first question which the proposers of this system are failing to clearly address is where funding is going to come from for the beef bred calves. If the required money is taken out of the Pillar I (which all our SFP currently come from) it will mean a minimum reduction of 5% for lowland farmers which as DARD’s most recent analysis confirms, will leave the Lowland and DA farmers no better off than on a single flat rate system. If the money comes out of Pillar II (which supports Agri-environment, LFACA, Farm Modernisation, etc) it has to be justified to the EU and it cannot be used to encourage growth within the beef herd, therefore if the number of beef bred animals (even from dairy origin) start to increase within the SDA this payment must be stopped in line with EU policy.

“Therefore if we are going to achieve the “Going for Growth” aims and objectives is it sensible to put an obstacle in the way of increasing production. The third option for a funding source is through the executive. With the current economic climate and cuts in every budget within the government and clear shortfalls in many sectors, for example health care, is it really a viable option to expect the Executive to commit to funding a beef support scheme exclusively for the SDA for the next 10 years, and even they did, could the SDA farmers really trust that it will be delivered upon?

“I would suggest that the most sensible approach to the future of CAP reform is a single flat rate for everyone with no uncertainty over where money will come from or at what level it will be available.” It is expected that DARD will make a decision on the CAP consultation later this month.