McGuinness to address Meath IFA meeting

Mairead McGuinness MEP and a key negotiator on CAP reform for the European Parliament will address the Meath IFA executive on Monday next, 19th August in the Ardboyne Hotel, Navan.

'An agreement on the CAP has been reached at EU level between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, but the fine tuning of that agreement and how it will be implemented in member states is now up for discussion and debate,” she said.

The MEP said she will be outlining to Meath farmers the options open to countries in terms of flexibility to tailor the CAP to meet individual country needs.

'A major talking point among farmers and the meat processing sector is the viability of beef production from the suckler herd and whether or not specific support should be targeted at suckler production.'

She continued: 'The option to give a coupled payment to the suckler cow is available under the reformed CAP but we need to carefully analyse the best option for the sector,” she said.

 McGuinness will also outline the EU view on dairying post milk quotas.