Irish tunnel call from farmers’ leaders

By Andrew Arbuckle
Published on 23/02/2013 01:45

Scottish farming leaders this week joined colleagues from other countries in Europe in a call for a more flexible payment system that would reduce the impact of CAP change.

The system – named the “Irish tunnel” – allows for support rates within a range rather than flattened to a single rate, lowering the impact of redistribution.

Such a system would help protect livestock producers who have high single farm payments arising from intensive production and who would lose out badly on the “flat” proposal.

The move follows a meeting in Dublin where NFU Scotland, along with its Welsh and Northern Irish counterparts and representatives from France, the Netherlands, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Belgium and Denmark, signed a declaration in support of the “Irish tunnel”.

ANDREW ARBUCKLE