New proposal to change hill subsidies
14 June 2000
New proposal to change hill subsidies
by Philip Clarke
HILL farmers will see a major redistribution in support next year if government plans being up for new Hill Farm Allowance payments are accepted in Brussels.
A revised proposal, being considered by agriculture minister Nick Brown, follows the rejection of a scheme to replace Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances.
That version suggested weighting the new payments 80% on the basis of historic receipts and 20% in return for environmental work.
But the commission said this was unacceptable as it maintained the link between livestock numbers and subsidy levels.
Its preference is for something akin to the Austrian system, where individual farms are subsidised according to gradient and environmental conditions.
The proposed new scheme has three area payment rates, depending on whether land is disadvantaged, severely disadvantaged or open moorland.
These payments would be tapered, with bigger area payments for smaller farms in disadvantaged areas and less for larger farms on the moorlands.
But the National Farmers Union is concerned that it would still lead to a damaging loss of support lower down the hill.
People are talking about this redistribution as being something of little consequence, said Peter Allen, chairman of the unions hill farming committee.
But this is peoples livelihoods we are dealing with. Without this support, hill farmers in places like Cumbria and Wales will be forced out of business.
The NFU wants the Ministry of Agriculture and the European Commission to accept something closer to the original plan.
It suggests that 75% of the payment should relate to historic receipts and 25% to the environment.
But its chances of success seem slim. A similar scheme put forward by the Irish government was also rejected by Brussels late last week.
Tom Parlon, president of the Irish Farmers Association, accused European Union officials in Brussels of making too strict an interpretation.
A flat rate acreage payment would adversely affect 15,000 farmers in the Republic, he estimated.
This scale of loss is totally unacceptable, said Mr Parlon, urging Irish farm minister Joe Walsh to raise the issue at next weeks farm council in Luxembourg.