‘I can see life from both sides’

Mairead prefaced her keynote address by remarking that much of those 50 years mirror the duration of her own education and career: “I went to University College Dublin (UCD) in 1974 to study agricultural science and I reported on agricultural issues and the influence of the EU from the early 1980s, right up to 2004.” She then stood, successfully, for the European Parliament and, as a member of the Parliament’s agriculture committee, she put her training and journalistic reporting to good use as she advocated on behalf of Irish agriculture: “It was a time of change in Europe, with the Parliament taking on equal status with the Commission in developing and adopting policies,” she explained.

Understanding farming realities

Mairead, who is now the only native English speaker at the European Commission table, believes her current role as Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union is equally important to farmers as it is to other citizens: “Finance matters to farmers and I keep a close eye on what is happening in European and Irish agriculture.” As the only Commissioner who lives on a farm, she has first-hand experience of the challenges facing the sector: “I can see life from both sides and realise that the initial euphoria of joining the community a half century ago, has changed to a more pragmatic understanding of the impact of the EU on farmers’ lives and livelihoods. “The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has had a huge and positive impact with extraordinary modernisation of farming practices since we joined the EU. For many years, we were net beneficiaries of the EU budget. Today, we are net contributors, a sign that we are among the wealthier members of the union. The CAP was the catalyst for improvements in farm structures, for increased volumes, value and quality of farm produce. Guaranteed prices were replaced by decoupled payments, linked to livestock and then to land. Today, the policy has evolved to provide environmental delivery as well as farm income support. Every reform has brought further complexities and there is a need for simplification,” she said.

Nature’s challenges

This year, in particular, the challenges posed by bad weather to livestock and tillage farmers have been immense. The impact of climate change is a constant reminder of why farmers are integral to providing solutions, she said. “The fortunes of farmers are closely linked to the natural world, and we cannot ignore the impact of climate change on farming. That’s why farmers are part of the EU push to reduce the causes of climate change. Reform can be necessary. That is what it took to eliminate butter and beef mountains and wine lakes. Food scares, over the decades, were minimised by EU reforms. The protection of the European food chain has come about through the introduction of sophisticated, rapid-alert systems coordinated by the European Food Safety Authority. Ultimately, those measures protect farm and food prices.”

Convergence antagonisms

Recalling the CAP reform of 2013, Mairead said: “I was a member of the Parliament’s agriculture committee, and I predicted the proposed changes to redistribute funding would lead to much antagonism among farmers. It was an inevitable policy shift and did cause division. It is difficult to formulate policies that have broad acceptance because there are so many different implications for different farmers.
“The abolition of quotas was a huge development. The constraints of the quota had added to production costs and there was a desire to break free. Irish dairy expansion has been significant with opportunities for new entrants as well as expansion among existing milk producers. Investment in processing infrastructure facilitated that growth.”
But the focus now, she pointed out, is on all parts of agriculture to make it more sustainable, to address environmental challenges and animal welfare issues. “The latest CAP, incorporating convergence as well as environmental protection, continues to change, with increasing influence from the Green Deal and Farm to Fork policies,” she said. “These will have big impacts on Irish food production and processing in the coming decades as we move towards a net zero carbon target by 2050. We are at an inflection point and there is an understandable anxiety on the part of farmers as to what these changes will mean for them. It is in all our interests, given the impact of climate change on everyone, that farmers are helped to adapt and adopt new approaches to food production.
“Farm to Fork has implications for the entire food supply chain, from soil health through to food waste. There is an increasing focus on reducing inputs and trying to maintain production at the same time. Through research and advice, led in Ireland by Teagasc, we are seeing the evolution of new practices and technologies. The focus cannot only be on production without account being taken of environmental and climate consequences. Previous policy mistakes in terms of penalising farmers for unproductive areas on their farms are being rectified. Mindsets are changing among farmers as well as policymakers. What was asked of farmers 40 years ago is entirely different to what is wanted today.”

A collective approach

Mairead pointed to recent remarks by European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, proposing a structured dialogue around the future of agriculture within the EU: “We need to realise that farmers are a core part of this dialogue, not to be talked about but rather to be listened to, and to have a conversation with, so that everyone is involved in making the changes required. President von der Leyen also pointed to the polarisation of views where we cannot find a middle ground, something that the EU was always able to do in finding necessary compromise when needed.”
Mairead highlighted the need for generational renewal among the farming community, asking how many of those young people undertaking the Green Cert will farm in the future: “Fewer and fewer, I believe, partly because of the uncertainties around farming and because there are abundant alternative employment opportunities. There is a valid question as to how many existing full-time farmers will be replaced by full-time farmers. Looking at the age structure, many farmers keep going when they should stop and many stop only because they can’t keep going. We are going to have significant change, not only in land ownership, but also in the use of land because of that age structure.”

Big questions for the EU

And looking forward, she said: “Environmental issues will remain to the fore, and a more broad-based approach to dairy and other food production will be needed, rather than a solely production-driven model. The marketplace is demanding increased visibility of production methods and standards. Farmers are doing a lot already to address the challenges facing them and that needs to be acknowledged. Who pays the price for the changes required? Where are food prices going? Who pays for the public goods embedded in food? What does food security mean and how important is it in the EU? These are the questions that must be answered urgently.”