This article is from page 38 of the 2007-06-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 38 JPG
THERE have been mixed reactions to meetings of the EU Farm Coun- cil, which took place in Luxembourg last week with the ICSA President expressing frustration with a failure to deliver in relation to farm inspec- tions.
Malcolm Thompson said that the current system “totally fails to ad- dress the concerns of Irish farmers”.
“It is very frustrating that we still haven’t a straight answer from Eu- rope on where we stand with toler- ances. ICSA will not accept that there is no room for leeway with in- spections,” he said.
“If a farmer is 95 per cent compli- ant, there is no reason to penalise him as severely as the current system
demands. Mariann Fischer Boel has promised much but delivered little,” he added.
“Unless we can get official EU sanction for reasonable leeway for farmers who are inspected, then the whole issue of inspections will con- tinue to be controversial right into next year’s CAP health check.”
He added that “Europe does not seem to want to accept that the sys- tem of inspections 1s far more favour- able to large scale tillage farmers in the Paris basin than it is to livestock farmers in Ireland”.
IFA President Padraig Walshe said he felt that further progress was made in achieving a tolerable and more reasonable farm inspection re- gime.
He added that the Department of
Agriculture could now discard the 66-page checklist and come up with a reasonable inspection programme, taking account of the variation and practical issues arising in everyday elusnbneree
“There was a discernible move in the commission towards a more practical inspection system, respect- ing the rights of farmers while main- taining good farming practice,’ Mr Walshe said, emphasising that there is a flexibility towards providing for advance notice for routine inspec- tions.
Meanwhile, Minister Coughlan said that the new fruit and vegetable regime agreed upon will bring con- siderable benefits to Irish producers, consumers and the horticulture in- dustry in general.
She said that three aspects of the new regime will have direct benefits including: Support for Producer Or- ganisations (POs), adoption of new promotion measures and inclusion of fruit and vegetables and potatoes in Single Farm Payment.
‘The new scheme provides growers with the necessary support to meet higher quality and environmental standards in the market place where the multiples now handle some 80 per cent of the retail sales of fresh produce. The scheme will empower producers to work together to form a larger supply base and work as a more equal partner with these multi- ple retailers’.
Full details of the agreements are available on www.consilium.europa. eu.