‘GAEC 2 proposal fundamentally flawed and unfair'
According to the MEP a new Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) 2 standard was introduced to encourage better management of soils in the last Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform.
He claims that concerns were raised immediately in respect of the implementation of this, and it's potential to negatively affect the livelihoods of farmers.
The MEP added: 'Taking on board these concerns and acting on behalf of farmers, I worked in the background with colleagues at EU level to ensure that a footnote was added to the final text of the regulation that allows for agricultural activity to be continued and maintained in these lands.
'In the implementation of this new standard, a two year derogation was granted to allow for the identification of organic soils, what measures would be put in place, and to allow for consultation with farmers who would be impacted.
'In the intervening period, little in the way of genuine consultation has taken place. While there have been stakeholder meetings, concerns raised by organisations representing farmers working these lands were effectively ignored.'
Flanagan claims there has been no public dissemination of what the department was proposing, and that this allowed for 'misinformation to be spread'.
MEP
Flanagan also described DAFM's proposal as 'fundamentally unfair and flawed'.
According to the MEP the department's current approach proposes that if the land parcel (LPIS parcel) contains 51% organic soil, then the entire land parcel will come under the GAEC 2 restriction.
If 49% of the parcel contains organic soil then the parcel will not be considered to be in need of protection.
'This approach lacks fairness and balance, from both the perspective of the farmer and in achieving the objective of the standard,' the MEP said.
'For the farmers impacted it may have far reaching consequences. In many cases their entire farms, including the mineral soils on their holding, will now come under the restrictive measure to comply with the GAEC 2 standard,' he added.
'Farmers have demonstrated repeatedly over the years that they are willing to take on new challenges, but there must be equality in the implementation of measures. One group cannot be required to do all the heavy lifting while another group remains unaffected.'
The MEP also highlighted that correctly managing organic soils is an issue that must be addressed.
He said: 'Over the last few years farmers working organic soils have been unfairly targeted and the finger pointed at them as the main contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) from agriculture.
'It may suit an agenda in the short term to point the finger at organic soils but in the longer term, addressing pollution at source is the only way to reduce its impact,' he added.
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