ICOS addresses Commissioner Ciolos, EU Polish Presidency and European Parliament Agriculture Committee

BRUSSELS – The new Common Agricultural Policy must vigorously emphasise and actively promote the position of farmer owned Co-operatives across Europe, ICOS told EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos and the Polish Presidency of the European Union in a high level hearing last week. 

ICOS European Affairs Executive Conor Mulvihill addressed a special session of the European Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development.  The meeting was organised by the European Commission and included sectoral organisations and NGO’s from across Europe.

Mulvihill addressed five key policy areas for ICOS and its members who include the Irish dairy processing co-operatives and national livestock marts.

In addition to the requirement  to promote co-operatives in any new CAP, ICOS made constructive proposals around provisions for market management measures, direct payments and greening,  the encouragement of young farmers and innovation measures to support competitiveness and productivity were aired as vital concerns.

The following five points summarise the address made by ICOS to the meeting:

Position of Co-operatives

ICOS told the Commissioner and representatives that the new CAP should more vigorously emphasise and actively promote the position of farmer owned co-operatives.

Co-operative businesses across Europe have always given numerous benefits to their members, the industry and rural communities in general.  They are an economically and socially sustainable business model, where the producer, processor and the marketer are vertically integrated with each other helping rebalance what is at present a patently unbalanced food chain.

Co-operatives bring viable incomes to farmer members, with an emphasis on proper business planning in a globalising world.  The co-operative model also offers members a level of protection from the volatility that has become a feature of agricultural markets.

While Commission officials are doing much work to promote the role of Producer Organisations, ICOS cautioned that co-operatives remain the most effective, socially responsible and sustainable form of producer organisation and that they must be encouraged and protected by the new CAP.

ICOS warned that the current CAP communication is not addressing this requirement.

Market Measures

ICOS welcomes the fact that market supports such as public intervention, private storage and export refunds have been retained in the CAP proposals.

It is critical that a floor is retained by the CAP to give co-operatives and their members some protection during economic catastrophes that are not of their making, such as the 2008 price collapse in dairy markets.

The proposed separate €3.9 billion fund for market crises is also welcome.  However, it must be ensured that the mechanisms to react during a severe market disturbance are properly formulated to be quick, decisive and effective.

Young Farmers

ICOS said it warmly welcomes the initiative to set aside 2% of the new CAP for young farmers. In Ireland figures show only 7% of the Irish farming population is under 35.  If expectations and growth targets for co-operative industries are to be met, all means must be pursued to encourage new farming talent into the industry.

Best practice also has to be a priority, stated ICOS.  The new CAP should look into the possibility of funding training for young co-operative farmer members in key skills such as good governance and finance.

Direct Payments & Greening

The Commission has indicated a major shift towards a flat rate regional system from 2014 with a transition period running up to 2019.  ICOS is calling for;

• A detailed analysis to be carried out to clarify the exact impact on farmers
• Extra flexibility for each Member State
• A longer transition period to implement the new regime.

While the environmental responsibilities and challenges faced by co-operatives must be acknowledged,  ICOS told Commissioner Ciolos that the ‘greening’ elements of the current draft will both create distortions in the single market and will reduce our competitiveness in the world market.

ICOS also argues that a sustainability-linked direct payment should not only take into account environmental concerns, but also the contribution to social cohesion in rural areas that the co-operative model provides. 

ICOS is convinced that current measures will add a significant extra layer of cross compliance and that this will impact Irish competitiveness globally.  This has to be avoided at all costs.

Innovation Funding

Competitiveness & productivity are going to be key requirements if Irish and European co-operative industries are going to create opportunities from the challenge of being involved in feeding 9 billion people by 2050.

Innovation within our industries is going to be at the forefront of this process. To this end, ICOS welcomed the separate € 5.1 billion fund dedicated to agricultural research and innovation is welcome.

ICOS noted that traditionally this type of funding has been dominated by academic bodies and big industries that have the scale and expertise to deliver complex applications.

It is imperative that access to this new fund is designed to allow all sizes of industry to capitalise on funding for real product development.

This would enable local communities advance value added products ensuring that they are not reliant on only producing commodity goods at the bottom of the food chain.