Minister for Agriculture must review flawed proposal for the Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition standard – Martin Kenny TD

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Agriculture, Martin Kenny TD, has today raised concerns with the Minister for Agriculture on proposals for the Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC 2) standard.

Teachta Kenny said:
 
“I raised the issue of GAEC 2 standard that will negatively impact 35,000 farmers and their families. Nobody is disputing the need for GAEC 2 to be introduced to protect carbon rich soil/peatland and wetlands, as required under the CAP strategic plan and EU regulations.
 
“The issue lies in how it is being introduced – specifically the proposal that the Minister submitted to the European Commission for approval.
 
“This proposal clearly disenfranchises smaller farmers and particularly farmers on the western seaboard.  The proposal states that if a parcel is 50% or more peatland, then it is in scope. Parcels of land can vary from less than 1 hectare to hundreds of hectares, 2000 hectares even on commonage.
 
“A parcel of land of 10 hectares in the northwest could have 5 hectares of peatland but the whole 10 hectares will be classed as peatland.
 
“Then on the other hand in the south a farmer with a parcel of 50 hectares and only 10 or 15 hectares might be peatland yet none of his parcel will be classed as peatland under this 50% rule.
 
“There is an alternative to this proposal and that is to implement the same system as is used for GAEC 8 and GAEC 9 which protects Nature and Natura 2000 sites by red lining out areas of peatland instead of applying it to the whole parcel.
 
“The current proposal will include 100,000 hectares of inorganic mineral soil into GAEC 2 that is designed to protect carbon rich soil which is wrong and should not happen.
 
“The Minister must review his proposal for GAEC 2 to the EU Commission and amend it so that it will only include carbon rich soil/peatlands.
 
“The Minister did acknowledge that there would be an appeals process for any farmer who felt their land should not come under GAEC 2 and that farmers could split parcels when making their Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) applications.”